Latest / Best of Business / Rohan Metrani: SolarZero customer on being locked into a contract with the liquidated solar-panel subscription service

Transcript

Rohan Metrani: SolarZero customer on being locked into a contract with the liquidated solar-panel subscription service · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talks. It'd be
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Listen, We've got to talk about Solar Zero. Solar Zero.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Do you remember that panel business, Solar Zero that went
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: into liquidation a couple of years back. Its customers are
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: still having problems today, two years after it went bust.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Many customers are complaining that their power bills are going
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: up more than they were told and they're trapped in
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: these twenty year contracts. Rohan Mitrani is a Solar zero
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: customer and with us now.
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Hi Rohan, Hello, good afternoon.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Hey, So what's going on for you?
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: For me? We've been dripped for the last I would
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: say about five ish years since they first started, and
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: we have been trying to get out for a while,
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: and they have mentioned that you need to be about
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: five or seven thousand. This was before they went bust,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: and right now we don't have any other contact that
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: can advise or give us any sort of indication about
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: how wegan come out.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Hold on, So, even if you wanted to get out
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: right now, you don't know who to talk to.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: We don't know who to talk to.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: No can't you just cancel your payments or is it
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: a direct debit?
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: The only thing we worry about is just the credit rating,
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: because if we don't pay them, then there's a few
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: people who have mentioned that you reduce your credit score,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: and that's something that none of us want either, do
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: you know, unless there's.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: A possibility, yeah, carry on, carry on?
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Sorry, unless there have been mentions about people mentioning that
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: you can raise a dispute and then stop paying. But
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: I haven't gone down that route yet.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Is it worth going down that route, mate?
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: Possibly, because it's become more of a liability at this stage.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: So initially the way it was promised was that it's
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: a win win for everyone. So Solazilo makes money by
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: selling the excess power to the grid and then we
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: also make a bit of savings. But at the moment,
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: I'm looking for about three four hundred dollars a month
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: and it's just me and my messes and plus the rental.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: And this is only for the lighting or if it's
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: the TVs or the laptops because they've got and I
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: don't have electric vehicle, and even for the cook even
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: for the cooking and the hot that's on the bottled gas.
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: Hold on, are you telling me that you're paying about
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: four hundred bucks a month for just losing and your
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: lighting and it's just two of you?
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Yes, And then.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: What's the rental?
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: On top of that rental, I'm paying one hundred and nine.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: There's wonderful people that have been paying quite a bit
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: more than that, chase.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Okay, okay, So I mean it seems to me the
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: situation because just explain to me why it is that
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: you guys are complaining before you actually raise a dispute.
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: We're complaining because we're paying quite a bit more than
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: any regular customer, so we pay for the rental, and
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: then on top of that, we also paying quite a
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: substantial amount for the for the I understand.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, my bloody be complaining about it as well
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: if I was you. But what are you hoping to
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: get from complaining about it?
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: We want to get rid of their system because that's
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: become a liability. First of all, that there's a few
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: people who've also mentioned that it has caused leaks in
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: the roof or the condition of the roof has been compromised.
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: That's one issue that's not a lot of us. That's
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: all there is some of us. Then the other issues
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: that we're paying for the rental which isn't really getting
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: us any savings, so it's become more of a liability
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: that we're still paying for that. But then again we're
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: being just as any other customer would.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: Okay, well listen, good luck with it. I think I
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: think it's probably I think we've reached the conclusion where
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: we've realized what you need to do here, which is
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: raised a dispute. Rohan, best luck with it, Rohan Mettrani,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Solar zero customer.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: For more from news Talks at b Listen live on
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio