It has been a hard year so far for residential solar companies. In the first quarter the national residential market declined 17% year-over-year, one of its few contractions in the last five years. Much of this was driven by California, the largest market, where the decline was particularly intense.
Last week American Solar Direct (ASD) joined the list of distributed solar companies which have filed for bankruptcy this year, which includes Sungevity and Heliopower. And unlike these other companies, there will likely be no restructuring for ASD. The company voluntarily filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy, which usually results in the liquidation of assets.
As distributed solar installer heavily dependent upon the California market, ASD was in a position to be particularly hard hit by these changes, and had already gone through rounds of layoffs. However, it is not clear that this was the sole factor that brought about the company’s profoundly bad financial situation. At the time of filing, ASD had less than $50,000 in assets, and $10-$50 million in liabilities.
This is a long fall from the $36 million in revenue the company earned in 2014, when it found its way into a second year on the Inc. 5000 listing, after 159% growth over a 3-year period. At the time the company had 417 employees.
This is not the first time that ASD has been in hot water. At the beginning of its massive growth spurt in 2013, one of the company’s vans was the subject of televised police chase which only ended after the driver rammed another car.
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So who are we paying our money too if ASD is gone and we can’t get service for our solar lease? Breech of contract?
Guys ASD contracts strictly states they can be no changes .we are stuck we have to pay . .has anyone come out of this trap.no maintenance nothing for 20 years and I’m paying. 168 monthly . On cloudy days it goes up . Solar same like my electricity bill .anyone of u came out of ASD trap. No wander they are bankrupt
AZI, have you had any luck with getting out the lease? it does state a default on lease if company goes bankrupt. Anyone with any luck? please let me know
Hi Craig,
I am in the exact same boat. I have a lease with ASD and cannot re-fi my home due to no one in customer service that can sign off on the UUC. I can’t even sell my home right now because of this. ASD is in breach of all Lease agreements, stop paying them!
I am not sure what is going to happen to the installed equipment. I want it off my roof ASAP.
I used to work with ASD a few years ago. The lease is actually with a different company, NRG? Have a read of your lease agreement, the Company who financed the lease should be named on it and you should be able to google their customer service. ASD rep should have told you that lease was financed through a much bigger company so it should be still OK.
It is likely that your solr lease will be purchased in the liquidation of asd’s assets and then serviced by the new owner.
I don’t recommend that you stop paying your lease or loan, whichever it may be — you will only hurt your own credit. The reason is because your financing product is through another company — ASD itself was not the lease/loan institution. I recommend that you contact the party that financed your system to confirm details — you will probably receive a letter shortly from that party with contact information. Hope this helps.
contact Solar Alliance for help. They bought the BK Company. And they are the ones to look to for help
For folks with ASD systems. You still have manufacturers warrantees. Solar panels have longevity, in California expect them to only loose 0.5% energy/year. They will last 30+ years. The piece of equipment that does not have such longevity is the Solar Edge Inverter, that has I believe a 10 year manufactures warrantee on it. I am not sure if the extended warrantee is still good, it may have been through ASD…. ASD really was just an installer. If system was financed with Mosaic loan you still owe Mosaic the money. If system was leased through NRG you still owe NRG the lease payments…
I signed with American Solar Direct (ASD) near the end of October last year.I researched several other companies first.
There was an initial delay due to the fact we live in a gated community that required approval before the work could begin. Once approved, the installation went quickly. It took two days to install 20 panels and the inverter, associated conduit and wiring. The installers ran the conduit as we requested and painted it to match the house.
We did not need a new electrical panel. There was another delay in getting the city inspection after everything was installed, but that took place and the city inspector signed everything off. The system seems to be working fine. However, ASD did not install the module that would allow me to monitor the panels on the internet.
Also, ASD owes me a $750 incentive payment. I have contacted Solar Edge, the inverter manufacturer and they were very helpful in helping me gain access to their site to monitor the power production. I still need to have the module installed…most probably at my expense. My inverter has a 12 year warranty and I can purchase an extension to make it 20 years for just under $200.
The Solar Panels, are Model #CS6K-280M, by Canadian Solar. They have an office in Northern California. I emailed them and a representative quickly called me back. My panels are covered by a 10/25 year warranty.
He emailed me a copy. The representative said he had an email earlier today…
I am told that ASD was in business for some 9 years and had approximately 9000 installs.
Some have systems that are not complete and I feel for them and appreciate the fact that our system is working.I hope that as more information comes out, an Attorney group will step up to represent all of us victimized by this.
Greed at the top and middle management contributed I’m sure. Sports cars and high salaries. Blind man could see it coming.
I bought the panels installed by ASD through Mosaic. If I need service, who do I reach out to? And the performance web portal is gone, so how the hell can I see My output?
TRY THIS NUMBER FOR SERVICE
855 765 2755
press 0 0 to get through phone tree.
at least you can get to a person.
BE ADVISED
this is the co that bought asd , they are a collection agency and will record all conversations!
Thanks to Ken, I also contacted SolarEdge and they will set up monitoring for you, and it is WAY better than anything ASD ever provided! All you’ll need is the serial number of your inverter, and an email address you ant to use for the account.
Extension 0 no longer works.
Extension 2 sends you to Solar Alliance who is completing projects and can’t otherwise help.
Extension 1 (active system), followed by 2 (owned) gets a big silent “F-you” as you get hung up on.
Extension 1, followed by 1 (leased), sends you to a voicemail claiming the office is closed (all the time) and you can leave a message if you feel like exercising futility.
i am an asd customer .i can no longer monitor my systems performance due to website down or no recent data being posted.
my contract includes monitoring.
i feel if they do not resolve that issue they are in breach of their contract.
i would like to find out more about a class action lawsuit.
anyone else?
If it comes to a lawsuit count me in.
Count me in. We purchased our home with ASD panles and the service was a joke. We see zero savings and I feel our panles cost us money. I would NEVER go solar after the experience with ASD and will do anything to get that crap off our house.
Count me in to. They have breached their contract
This sucks!!!!
already had incident where we had no solar power for 3 weeks after a storm and the lack of response really alarmed me! Now no response is def a breach of contract, now what? ?
I was unaware of ASD’s bankruptcy. After reading the above comments from other customers, I’m concerned about keeping our system maintained properly, transferring ownership of the system when we sell this house, and being sure that we receive the services contracted for within our lease agreement. Can you please give me some names and contact information? I have looked up Solar Alliance, but I don’t see anything that indicates they are now the owners of our solar systems.
Who is going to handle my warranty on my panels and inverter? This information should be sent to us ASAP to eliminate and further confusion. This is probably why when I called almost two months ago I was given the run-around and the person was very rude on the telephone.
If we don’t have the service and the warranties any longer why should we pay for a system which includes these items?
At this time I don’t even know if the solar is working or not and I really don’t want any surprises that it’s not and get a huge SCE bill.
Mark
ASD customer since July 2012. On numerous occasions I e-mailed ASD that my portal was not working ( over the last year). Never got a response, but my system is working for now. We all seen to be on a sinking ship, but for now they keep taking their $123.18 from my checking each month. I kept my end of the deal; hopefully, someone taking them over can fulfill their promises. I believe its a lost cause.
Count me in I would love to get a class action law suit against them they have breached their contract
Linda,
Saw your post regards ASD…. We signed up with them in late 2013…now trying to sell our home and CANNOT get the lien release from them….so afraid now… They Asd WILL NOT respond to our Realtor regards Lien Release…..very frustrating. Any Information you could send me would be greatly appreciated.
I just saw this today. I have been with ASD since 2013 and slowly saw my electric bill increase, not decrease. My bill for July was 435.00. Did someone shut off my solar? I am really busy and haven’t had the time to address the situation, but now with this BK news, who do I call? At this point I just want the system to be off and to find a reputable company.
I would join in on the class action lawsuit.
I pay to Mosaic. Don’t they have a responsibility in helping us with customer service??? We paid a lot of money for the service we are not getting. It was not just for the panels and installation.
So I guess were all in the same boat I Purchased my panels to mosaic also no help from them they just want our money not sure what I can do except for asking if they want them back
I got through to the finance co. for leased panels for those that are in the middle of escrow such as myself. First Associates 855-241-6733. Have escrow co. call to request a UCC
Panels QPeak out of Germany. Customer since 2015. Got a BK Claim form in the mail but not sure what my damages are on a 20 year unrealized Warranty or who to claim with. Also got another Court Document naming RK Diamond. I will call Solar Edge to monitor as we never had that part working but since the system has performed well it was never an issue. Thanks for the info.
Bought panels through Mosaic, who is still collecting a monthly fee for a service that we can not monitor. After ASD wend under, who is responsible for warranty, maintenance and repair?
Guys and gals, I completely agree….feel your pain. I don’t feel I have received the value of the energy output guaranteed in the contract. don’t know how to see on our side how much energy is being provided (i.e monitoring panel is nowhere to be found). Strongly considering reneging on the loan. Does anyone know if there are still assets to get from these guys if we sue?
Ed
Been ASD since 2014. Really never saw any difference in my power bills. I have been skeptical if I’m even producing solar power. Had no idea ASD had any financial issues, never hear from these people. Got a call last night from a solicitor who told me that ASD had gone out of business. Wow was I shocked as I received my monthly ASD bill also yesterday. I in for any actions! Or better yet solutions.
Thanks for the tip guys, I also contacted SolarEdge and they set me with an account to monitor my system.
Ed
Called the number on my invoice and actually spoke with someone. They did state the company had filed for Chapter 7 back in early summer. They also claimed that they sent out an email in spring of 2017 notifying customers of the filing, i never received this email nor did a friend of mine who actually recommended ASD to me in 2014 shortly after they did his install. ASD billing stated that a Trustee had been placed in Oct. 2017 to “put things back on track”. As well they gave me a service number to call, but noted that it would take some time for anyone to get back to me as they were backlogged. All of these calls made me very uncomfortable as the call to them started with a notice that “this call is to a collection agency” and that it would be recorded. In spite of this i continued as i didn’t care my account has always been timely. I called the service number and did leave a message. Surprisingly i got a call back within two hours, sadly i was in a meeting and could not grab the call, although they did leave a message which i returned with no answer but will call again tomorrow. My issue really is that i can’t determine and never have been able too, if i’m generating any solar as my power bill has really never gone down since installation in 2014. The monthly billing not crazy high $115 but it’s still money and i have no way of knowing what i’m getting. I live in S. Cal and have D.W.P. whom i’ve had issue with over the years with seemingly no results as they have the monopoly on power here. In June of 2017 an ASD Rep. showed up at my house and spoke with my wife. Remember we knew nothing about ASD’s issues at that time. He told my wife we were producing maximum energy from our panels. She told him about our unchanged DWP Bills. He said we should see on our bill under NEM (Net Energy Metering) a notation about solar. After he left she told me and i looked and under the NEM nothing but “0” zero’s on each line. So i’m going to try to get someone to my house to prove to me that this system is generating solar in at any level. Again i said try……At some point if all fails i will have the contract (I lease) reviewed by Counsel. However last night i took another look at the contract and it is through ASD not another company and they have the right under that contract to assign my agreement to another party, without my approval. Pretty pissed but determined to get an answer or an out. Again if this proves to be a dead end, i’m in for a suit, but if the company has no assets then there might not be any water in that well. Will update, interested in anyone in the area that is experiencing similar issues and concerns.
Ed, looking around on the internet today regards ASD Solar. We signed up with them in 2013 .. HUGE MISTAKE …now we are trying to sell our home and we cannot get a lien release from them. Our home sold….in escrow… and they ASD promised we would have a lien release today showing amt. due…we Leased…. nothing received….our sell now in limbo…I think we need an attorney.
I have been leasing a system from ASD for over 5 years and I want to buy it outright. I haven’t been able to find out what the payoff amount is. I have tried asking several people at several different numbers and have never been able to find out how much I can write a check for.
How can I find out what my ASD lease payoff amount is?
I’m with you Allen. I’ve been reading all the comments and I’m thinking a buyout of the system would be a solution of sorts. My monthly ASD bills are locked in at $184 but Edison slapped me with a $1200 system usage fee this year. Making the solar panels not saving me any money in the least. I’m paying more for utility now that i did before ASD installed the panels in 2013.
I’m all in for a class action suite.
They told us because we are buying our solar’s panels to mosaic that if we don’t put on a certain amount of money after one year our payments going to go from 147 a month 255 for 25 years we are not saving any money we just recently found out we are not making any money on our solar we’re not saving any money our solar cost is just about 300+ the 255 we’re running $355 a month 1500 square-foot home is there something wrong we can’t get no help no answers anyone else regarding the suggestions besides stop in payments and letting them come getting The The solar off my roof
We too have ASD solar for the past 4 years. I don’t have much hope with the chapter 7 filing. It would be to our benefit if a large solar company could buy ASD contacts for pennies on the dollar and save us all. I hope that happens. I’m not for a class action suit because you get very little out of it. The only people who get anything are the attorney’s. A mediation might be better. I’m at a loss right now and need to do more research. Good luck to us all! BTW, I never received anything from ASD regarding their intent to file bankruptcy!
Class Action or mediation… anything to get some answers or closure on all of this. I have just stopped automatic payments on my ASD account and would be more than happy for the collection company to come on out and take the panels off the roof. I paid $1000 more this year than the original annual energy bill that ASD quoted me in 2013. I think that is a legit a breach of contract. Furthermore, I did not receive either an email or a form of letter informing me of their Chapter 7 or anything else. I’ve read a few comments about a third company in the contract who might have financed the lease of the ASD panels… Mosaic? or NRG? I’ve looked through my contract and can’t find that information. Anyone know where to look??
When they put the solar on your roof the vents that are on your roof that makes your plumbing breathe they cut hours off of flat on our roof and then put the solar panels over it did they do that to anyone else’s on the roof let me know
yes in deed they – A .S . D . SOLAR . PERFORMED A BAD ROOF AND FLASHING JOB WHEN INSTALLING PANELS ( LEAKING ) WHEN I FIND A ADDRESS THEY WILL FIND ALL COMPONENTS TO SOLAR SYSTEM ON THEIR FRONT PORCH . I’VE DONE IT BEFORE AND THIS I’LL DO THIS FOR MY FRIEND THAT WAS TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF .
Hello Mr. Carter,
We welcome your contribution to the discussion, but can you avoid ALL CAPS? It’s the internet equivalent of shouting. Thanks.
– Christian
We need service on our solar panels purchased from ASD in 2016. Thank you everyone for the updates and information. I will be doing some research this week. Wish me luck!
They are being serviced by Omnidian, at least where I love
I would like to be notified if anyone is starting or is in process of class action law suit.
Corina
Please send me any/all information on a Class Action Suit. We are selling our home….have a contract with ASD since 2013,,,,We need a release from them to close escrow…cannot get it….a real run around … PLEASE any information you can send would be greatly appreciated.
count me in in a class action lawsuit
Purchased solar panels from ASD and they worked for 1 month. I stopped paying and now collections is on me. Don’t know what to do, I can’t afford to pay my electric bill and the loan payment on the panels. I just want my panels to work or they can come take them off ASAP!! So down for a class action law suit!!!
Count me in for a class action suit also. I stopped paying on the lease. ASD provided a Certificate guaranteeing a 20 year maintenance plan. There is also a clause in their contract under item #9, “The insolvency, bankruptcy,or making a petition for the benefit of creditors of either party shall be deemed a breach, entitling the other party to all remedies available at law. In addition, the contract provides a manufacturer’s warranty. Who will honor that warranty now? Also, the contract indicates a lease with ASD, not the finance company. If ASD made an arrangement with a finance company, that is something ASD entered into, not the customer. The customer’s contract is with ASD. ASD no longer exists. The finance company is using false pretenses to collect by using ASD letterhead. I think all this should void the contract.
I also have a ASD system. About a week ago I received a letter from PGE that the switch for the solar system made by Schneider needs to be replaced. I called a few times and left voicemail but no response from anyone. I think I have some 12-15 years to go on my lease. Has anyone been successful in finding a solution to everything stated above or has there been a class action lawsuit ?
If not then can can we try to get such a suit to be initiated. If there is no service and the cost of the lease does not change, then it must be a “breach of contract” ?
The collection company that I send monthly payments to does have my phone numbed and email in their records.
We also had ASD install 20 solar panels on our home in 2015 (we bought our system, versus lease). We are one of the lucky ones seeing a big difference in our SDGE bill, especially right now with running the AC here in San Diego during this 100 degree heat wave. However, I am not able to log onto the portal to check out production at all anymore. Website no longer works. If we EVER have a problem, I have no one to call for a warranty claim. Anyone have a number to call after the bankruptcy? This has been a nightmare. Thank you!
We too are in this boat, we purchased but finance is thru Mosaic. Our solar seems to not be producing and our electricity bill is growing. We are wondering if anyone has out there has stopped their payments to Mosaic? If so, what has come of that?
I want to join the class action lawsuit
I just spent 3 hours trying to get to the bottom of this lease/bankruptcy debacle. Aaron Deleest is the chapter 7 trustee for ASD. His number is 310-277-0077.
He told me my particular ASD lease had been sold to another company some time ago (Washington Gas), though I had never been informed of this. Also, bad idea to stop paying (for your own credit) until you know who actually holds the other end of your lease.
He is probably your best bet for a contact to navigate all this.
Kate, thank you very much for posting this. I spoke to Mr Deelest this afternoon and he was able to provide the info for Washington Gas ( the new loan servicer).
Not all leases were assumed by Wash Gas, so others may have to call to get their particular information.
The number for Washington Gas is 855-414-6145 or asd@fa-servicing.com.
I found out today that my ASD solar panel lease in now owned by ASD Solar LP (base in Dallas, TX 1-855-241-6733), and serviced by Omnidian (based in Seattle, WA 800-597-9127). Monitoring website is now: https://solarnoc.datareadings.com/
I am taking notes and discovering what we ASD customers might do. I have sent multiple certified letters and received no response.
Please contact me at:
business at (ignore this) mb kelly (replace with a dot) net
Hi – we are not able to close escrow because of ASD Solar LP….. I am stressed to the max!
would like to know if you have made any progress M.B. Kelly. please advise – go.powersful@gmail.com
MB Kelly We have not been able to close escrow on our home in Northern Ca. due to ASD Lien on property…any help would be greatly appreciated
Hello M.B Kelly.
I am another frustrated ASD customer who’s been groping in the dark to find some answers. I’m into my 9th year on a 20-yr Lease contract. I’m not really getting anywhere even after speaking with a supervisor at customer service, who does not provide any info on ASD Legal Dept. What progress have you made since March 2019 please? I’d very much appreciate your help please.
I have also have ASD installed my solar panels many years ago and leased .
I would like also an update on what to do next in case any class action is needed
Jason, We are having an issue selling our home due to ASD any advice ?
MB Kelly,
Could you please be more clear on how to reach you?
We are also trying to close escrow on our home with a solar lease originally from ASD. It has been very frustrating, trying to get the release and assumption paperwork processed so that the buyers can assume our lease. Our panels have worked just fine ever since they were installed – no complaints there. But working with ASD Solar LP, whoever they are, has been a headache.
I will say that in order for your paperwork to be processed by the “back office”, it must be their exact assumption packet, completely filled out with all information, and emailed to the asd@fa-servicing.com. If you use any other format, even if it has all of the required information, they will reject it.
I am trying to locate the legal paperwork on the chapter 7 filing, because our buyer’s need to provide it to their lender. I have no idea what will happen if we can’t get this resolved. We’ve already bought another house in TX, so we are hopeful to get this settled.
I would recommend filing a complaint with the CFPB Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. They MUST respond within 30 days. I am doing this!
I can back up issues on Lease package issues for a refinance started end of Feb, and still trying to close ( after 30day extended to 60d expired). on new 30day, and hopefully will close timely, but ASD Lease package refi hurdles are extremely frustrating.
Hi Paula – Did everything work out for you? Was there a contact at ASD Solar that helped you? I am just beginning the process of putting my parents home on the market and their home has leased panels from ASD. I really don’t know where to go from here.
Does anyone have there old contract & specifically the terms of inverter replacement for Lease contracts near my June 2012? ASD can’t find contract but for refi they want me to sign replacement contract that limits inverter replacement to a single 1 per 20yr term. I can’t find contract either, but I remember specificially being promised 2 inverter replacements ~every 7 yrs. If anyone has older contract I’d appreciate sanity check if terms as I remember. I’ve a small 3KVA single inverter system: 3.12 (KVAs)
REC Solar REC240PE-US
SB2500HF-US 240 V
105.40/mo
25,296.00 2yrs + residual 3514.49 ( the salesman said after 20yrs tell them don’t want any longer, and they would probably abandon $3.5K residual – but contractually that doesn’t seem to be legit as I’m reading replacement contract terms. Any thoughts here?
Read the contract document ASD files in the court house. At the top it state that the lease does not constitute a lien.
Exactly! My contract (from 2013) says it’s NOT a lien so I truly hope This helps those of you who are trying to sell.
Any theories on why we didn’t see cost savings for a couple of years? Im seeing savings now with Omindian doing the monitoring. Very strange!
Please add me to the list willing to Join the class action lawsuit
I did a search in my email on American Solar Direct. I found an email from asd@FA-servicing.com on March 28, 2018 advising Omnidian is the service provider and questions related to my account or billing inquiries should go to:
Phone: (855) 241-6733
Email: asd@FA-servicing.com
Omnidian confirmed my account and I was also able to confirm my billing account with ASD Solar LP.
Count me in on any legal action!