Slow ABB warranty claim

[BruceB]

I was phoned on 5 Jun say a Power One PVI 3.6 OUTD inverter on one of my domestic installations appeared not to be working properly. I attended on 8 Jun, diagnosed one side of the inverter was not working and initiated a warranty claim through ABB, my first. All appears to be progressing with an email saying awaiting despatch from factory. Two weeks later nothing has arrived so phone ABB to be told despatch expected 28 Aug. We agree that is ridiculous time frame and case is put on 'escalation list', with expectation that delivery might be 2 weeks. Still no despatch date given yet though.

Now my client has lost patience and wants to initiate a Sale of Goods Act claim against my company as inverter has broken within 6 years (it is 3½ years old). He wants me to buy a new one available immediately in this country and fit it.

So UK ABB staff seem helpful, a bit embarrassed by the slow process, but have not yet been able to sort it. By comparison I had a Solar Edge inverter and optimiser go down on a system a couple of months ago and I had replacements within a week.

My enormous sympathy and attentive handling of my client is rapidly evaporating if he wants to do it on a SOGA basis against me rather than ABB warranty basis. On one hand the cost of an inverter is not enormous in the scheme of things, but I do not have one lying around and would feel bullied.

My questions:
- Any tips on how to get ABB to perform?
- Any tips on handling a SOGA claim for an inverter? I am not inclined to fight it because unless there was evidence of lightning damage or similar there is a good chance a small claims court would sympathise with the client although in principle the onus would be on him to show an original defect after this time has passed.

 

[whinmoor]

We've had similar issues with ABB but not the impatient customer bit. That's because neither customer was originally ours but came to us when they discovered their original installer had ceased to trade.

Both inverters had the "E031 Int Error" message which can't be corrected onsite so needs replacement. In the first case it took about 2 months for the replacement to arrived from Italy. When it did finally appear, it was simply the inverter - no bracket or other bits. We had to use the bracket etc from the failed unit (fair enough).

I understand ABB offer to pay for lost generation from the date the failure is reported to them until the date the inverter is delivered. They also offer £100 + VAT to the installer as a service fee but this needs chasing up to receive. It's not great money for the hassle involved to be perfectly honest but you never know if it might lead to further work or recommendations.

On the second case which is ongoing, we suggested replacing the failed Power One with a different brand. We will still make the warranty claim and get the replacement. The customer can then hold that as a "spare" or flog it on ebay if he prefers. He would also be able to claim for lost generation until the replacement unit arrives.

I can't understand why ABB don't do a deal with one of their distributors to send a replacement unit from stock rather than force customers to wait for weeks and pay for lost generation. I've gone off ABB a bit due to this issue. We had a similar service call related to a Delta inverter recently and that was handled much more efficiently.

 

[JulianC]

Just be grateful you're not dealing with the **** ***** *****ing ******ers at Samil...

 

[infinity]

Im also waiting a ABB repalcement! its been 4 weeks now.
On the other hand, i had a smail 1600TL fail, i had a replacement within 2 weeks! so cant complain

 

[Gavin A]

you could suggest ABB take them back off sibert who're currently flogging them off cheap due to oversupply of the version without integrated dc isolator.

escalate it to david smith, head of technical sales, he's usually pretty good at finding a resolution if he thinks it's going to hit future sales.

 

[BruceB]

Good suggestion. I did meet David Smith at a Segen event in 2011. He was helpful and did answer questions on this forum at that time but I gather was banned from doing so because he was not a sponsor. A pity I thought. I saw Sibert's email earlier today and almost got my credit card out!

I put to my client last night by email, "Do you wish to discontinue the warranty claim against ABB and change it to a SOGA claim against BruceB Co Ltd?"and he has backed down for the moment. ABB ought to realise this is a serious reputational issue. I am going to be reluctant to install them again.

 

[Worcester]

I guess we're all in the same boat, we're on almost exactly the same timescale as you BruceB (same dates!) we've been promised despatch from Italy next week.

We're seeing quite a lot of these E031 errors, due to one of those fates of history, we keep a PVI-3.6 OUTD in our stores that we swap out for customers, whilst waiting for the official replacement, so far our customers have been happy with that arrangement.

All our three phase and commercial installations are SMA, and have had very few problems.

Seems like ABB have an issue with quality on these inverters, we are going to review our future proposals and may simply go SMA only.....

By the end of this year, I reckon we will have replaced 15% of the Power-One inverters that we've installed since 2010..

 

[BruceB]

That's a worrying figure!

 

[SibertSolar]

Sorry to hear about your troubles with ABB Bruce. We've tried before to get involved in the RMA loop, to help out ABB and clients by sending units from our own stock in lieu of ABB providing the service replacement - their process just doesn't allow this to happen. Mind you, in our experience, this is often the case with inverter manufacturers (apart from AE, who we are Service Partners with).

Thanks also to Gavin for highlighting the fact that we are selling off the non-S units we have in stock. Unfortunately they are now all gone so I can't even help you out with a low-cost unit in the interim. We do have the -S variants in stock though, happy to do a deal on one of those for you if that helps you out of a sticky spot Bruce.

 

[BruceB]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and offers. I am hoping this is on the way to being resolved. My client, Mr Angry, set his wife, Mrs Angrier, upon ABB this morning. I then had a call from a shell shocked ABB UK rep, saying she really was quite angry and threatening and that he would try to sort it. Then an email this afternoon from Italy saying something is on the way via TNT. Doesn't say what nor does the tracking number work yet, but hopefully good news.

 

[Gavin A]

it's odd the way that very angry customers can sometimes change the minds of folk who've been adamant on something when faced with the polite and reasonable approach.

 

[SibertSolar]

Ha, indeed! It's often a case of "he who shouts loudest"...unfortunately

 

[BruceB]

Pleased on a selfish level, but annoyed also that it probably means some other person has been bumped down the list.

 

[solarsavings]

We made a warranty claim on the 3rd June and was told to expect to wait 7 weeks. We are waiting to hear from TNT when to expect delivery of a replacement 3.6OUTD. The customer got arsey having to wait 3days (weekend) before we swapped out the failed unit.

Like Gordon we have a few inverters to hand just in case of a failure.

 

[whinmoor]

I was today (26th June) quoted a despatch date of 7th August from Italy.