Clary Solar San Diego

It appears my entire solar system is not working! I received a bill from SDGE this month, which is my first clue that my solar system is worthless.

They were responsive a year a ago and nothing! Clary Solar phone numbers are disconnected, website down - what do I do now? Clary Solar has skipped town leaving me with a worthless investment.

I am trying to contact the manufacturer of my micro inverters to see what my options are, but no thanks to Clary Solar, I think I will have to pay again. I think Clary Solar sucks big time.

In September of 2011 we had Clary Solar install 15 panel with enPhase micro-inverters. The system has worked flawlessly, but the problem has been roof leaks from the installation.

I live in a 100 year old Craftsman bungalow. The leaks have resulted in severe interior damage to the plaster ceiling. While I was concerned about the possibility of leaks at the time of installation, I was assured that this would not be a problem.I have attempted to contact Clary Solar to no avail. I can only leave voice mail and don't get a call back.

I have no idea if they are still in business. Be very careful dealing with them.

I had the misfortune of working for this company. They are a rip off all around, they rip off customers and employees. In the 1-1/2 years I was at the company, Clary Solar went through four accountants, four sales people, and two operations staff. This is a turnover rate of 100%. The only person still working at Clary Solar since the company was founded is the founder and CEO, Junaid Qazi.

Junaid asked me to leave two good jobs to work at Clary Solar. He promised I would earn more than I was making at my previous employment, so I took the job. Unfortunately, that promise never materialized. I was not paid my first paycheck until after I had been working for two months. Over my time there, there was a culture of unprofessional practices:

*I saw Junaid attempt to charge a customer more than his contract amount because the company didn't make enough profit.

*Junaid told one of his accountants to quit her other job and work full time, only to give her part-time hours after she quit the other job.

*Junaid asked me to promise to "carry rebates" for a large client then told me to tell them that Clary Solar "doesn't carry rebates" a month later.

*Junaid canceled a customer's job after contracts were signed and the customer waited two months for product delivery because it didn't make enough money.

*Junaid has often quoted inaccurate equipment pricing to sales staff, then forced sales people to pay out of their commission to cover the lost profit caused by his mistake.

*Junaid is consistently delinquent in completing state rebate paperwork on time.

*Junaid inflates the cost of mounting and racking prices in estimates to pad company profits.

*Junaid was habitually late, often months late, on commission payments which forced me to borrow money while waiting for my paychecks.

*The last accountant at Clary Solar was a highly qualified professional who had worked previously for Morgan Stanley (if I remember correctly). When he attempted to pay my final commission, Junaid fired him and deleted his records of my earnings. Junaid then manipulated the accounting records so I was owed less, then refused to pay even that lesser amount.

When I left the company, Junaid owed me over $7000 in commission, and still hasn't paid.

From a customer's perspective, Clary Solar is also a rip off. First, they claim to have been in business for over 40 years. This is a lie, they incorporated in 2008 as Solar Power Solutions, Inc. Clary Solar shares a name and owner with Clary Business Machines, so they make the 40 year claim based on Clary Business Machines's time in business. They are a very small Solar installer, with less than 75 systems completed in two years. About 30% - 40% of their former clients are extremely unhappy.

Most of the unhappy clients are customers of the other sales staff besides Junaid. This is because Junaid gives his own clients priority; clients of other sales people get last pick on equipment, have longer waits, and get poorer pricing. Junaid often tells his sales staff to a promise things to their clients. Later, Junaid will decide not to honor the agreements he told his sales staff to make, and forces his sales staff take deliver the bad news to their customers. Then, he blames the sales staff for the customer's dissatisfaction.

The key problem with Clary Solar is that Muhammed Junaid Qazi lacks integrity. If you work for Clary Solar, eventually, you will get ripped off or hurt financially. That's why they can't retain employees. If you are a customer of Clary Solar, the install team does very good work, and you will probably get a good system. However, your rebate will be processed late, your contract may be modified or cancelled by Junaid half way through the process. Your rebate may be less than promised, and if that's the case, Junaid will attempt to collect additional money from you. Ultimately, you can't trust Junaid or any of his statements. If Clary Solar, Junaid specifically, makes any mistake while working on your system, Clary Solar will pass the cost on to you in lost time, frustration, and higher payments, guaranteed.

-- Bottom Line --

Don't accept a job from Clary Solar, it will ruin your life and hurt your career. As a solar customer, don't let Clary Solar do your solar installations. You might be one of the lucky ones without any serious problems, but why risk it? Go to a reputable dealer that has more experience and most importantly ... integrity.