Warning- Segen's Sunpower

[Energetic]

Not sure if this has been covered or not but just had a visit from Sunpower and the modules Segen have in stock are grey imports which are in breach of their partnership rules. Therefore they have NO WARRANTY!

Doubt anyone would touch them at the current price but thought i'd better let you know...

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[Worcester]

Was it a salesman / rep or someone in authority.

Under EU law there is no such thing as grey imports and they will have to warrant the panels, otherwise it's restrictive trade practices. Whatever they might like to say.. Having said that they will of course (as they would anyway) look for every excuse not to honour any warranty anyway.

Waxman and Sungift have stocks of BenQ

See my lates post on the main forum under the thread about Sunpower re the module types for each.

 

[Energetic]

Interesting that about the EU, they claim unless bought from an authorised partner there is no warranty. The warranty is 25 years and very comprehensive so definitely worth having, we're doing more SP than anything else atm. There's an investigation going on to work out how segen got them.

It was the big boys, UK MD & Regional sales director.

 

[Worcester]

So why did the bother to visit you, or were trying to get set up as one of their 'partner installers'? And have they got any stocks in the UK yet ...?

 

[whinmoor]

Interesting that about the EU, they claim unless bought from an authorised partner there is no warranty. The warranty is 25 years and very comprehensive so definitely worth having, we're doing more SP than anything else atm. There's an investigation going on to work out how segen got them.

It was the big boys, UK MD & Regional sales director.

Are you allowed to set up a sideline as a distributor and sell them on to non Sunpower-approved installers? If so, you could make a quick buck for not much effort by undercutting Segen. Or do you have a contract that says you can only install Sunpowers yourself and reselling them would breach the contract?

 

[Energetic]

We've been partners since they entered the uk market. Late 2011 early 2012. Partners are only allowed to install not distribute... We'd get the boot if we did...

 

[Gavin A]

Was it a salesman / rep or someone in authority.

Under EU law there is no such thing as grey imports and they will have to warrant the panels, otherwise it's restrictive trade practices. Whatever they might like to say.. Having said that they will of course (as they would anyway) look for every excuse not to honour any warranty anyway.

Waxman and Sungift have stocks of BenQ

See my lates post on the main forum under the thread about Sunpower re the module types for each.

That'd probably only apply to the absolute minimum warranty required under EU law, they can probably choose how to apply their discretionary additional warranty.

 

[SpitfireW'sale]

Seems entirely reasonable to me that if a company is to provide a 25 year warranty on their product then then can ensure that the installer meets their required standards. With the distribution model they have they have at least some control over this. If the modules are freely available wholesale then there is zero control over how a product is installed and therefore much more likely to be warranty claims in future.

Do BenQ provide the same warranty?

 

[Worcester]

Seems entirely reasonable to me that if a company is to provide a 25 year warranty on their product then then can ensure that the installer meets their required standards. With the distribution model they have they have at least some control over this. If the modules are freely available wholesale then there is zero control over how a product is installed and therefore much more likely to be warranty claims in future.

Check out the recent Sunpower thread - would hardly say that they were checking installer quality, from our discussions with them, the only thing they wanted to check out was the thickness of our wallets.

 

[whinmoor]

We just signed up a customer asking for top-notch kit. He had done his research and come to the conclusion that he wanted Sunpowers or Panasonics. He wasn’t interested in LG or BenQ when I suggested them.

I managed to convince him that Panasonics were a more sensible choice. I'm not sure what I would have done if he'd insisted on Sunpowers.