Mildly irritated at published 'RRP' prices

[HotSpot]

Just having a moan but when you see a supplier advertising 'RRP' of panel prices at not much more than you can buy them in at (about £18) and the customer sees it, what's the point of carrying on!

Seriously annoyed.

Gah!

 

[SRE]

Agree completely, it's really difficult to explain to anyone who isn't competent at running a business where the extra cash goes as the recent example in Sussex on the main forum highlighted. Wholesalers should be on the installers side and supporting them I won't buy from anyone who advertises their prices to the public.

 

[SolarCity]

Yeah, it's a right pain in the arse.

I won't buy off the clowns. They don't understand the relationship between wholesaler and installer.

 

[HotSpot]

....hmmm. Problem is, I've now got a customer wanting the panels for next to nothing. How do I explain it to him?

 

[SolarCity]

Exactly. That's the problem.

 

[Gavin A]

....hmmm. Problem is, I've now got a customer wanting the panels for next to nothing. How do I explain it to him?

ask him if he wants the system to be installed by an installer who will still be around to sort out any warranty issues in a few years time, or some fly by night operation that will be out of business by then because they didn't cover their overheads.

 

[SRE]

We lost 3 jobs this way in March the customer went to the homebuild show and saw selecta solar. I was peeved at the time but to be honest I didn't even try to compete with it - it wasn't worth it to me to do the job for nothing and have any potential repercussions in 10 years time.

 

[HotSpot]

looks like the fly-by-nights will win then. But us decent installers won't be around when the fly-by-nights have gone out of business because they'd have priced us out beforehand!

 

[sambotc]

To be honest, with the exception of Segen, none of the wholesalers I have approached recently have asked for any credentials to prove I was in the trade.

That said, it's no different in any other trade,so why would solar be any different?

This is why installers are better off working together and keeping the prices tight so that the market moves as a whole rather than the smaller or 'fly by nights' don't push the FiTs down prematurely. I'm not saying there shouldn't be any competition, but being able to whack a job in for £1000+ less just seems insane and it's very short sited in my opinion.

I'm just starting out in this game and I can see what a minefield it is. Unfortunately the other aspects of my business will to a certain degree, revolve around the RHI which will be the same story I guess. Might be better off doing the night shift in tesco's in hindsight..

 

[solarsavings]

We lost 3 jobs this way in March the customer went to the homebuild show and saw selecta solar. I was peeved at the time but to be honest I didn't even try to compete with it - it wasn't worth it to me to do the job for nothing and have any potential repercussions in 10 years time.

I had an email from them last week looking for work for their installers. Cheeky ****ers

 

[HotSpot]

And to add insult to injury. My customer has just sent me links to the sites and is excited because they've just come down by another £5.

Aaaaarrrgghhhhhhhhhh