Sunbank Solar Batteries

Do not touch them! – Without doubt, THE WORST consumer experience I have had. A 5.9kw panel and 5.1kWh Eveready battery system installed in June 2021 and still not working properly. Battery wired incorrectly. Installation was found to be sub-standard by a Clean Energy Regulator auditor. Dashboard doesn't work. Battery will not charge up but diverts excess solar to… Read more

grid instead. Draws power from the grid even when battery is charged. Have been in dialogue with these scammers for 3.5 years and get doughnuts. Have just sent another email to demand this be sorted out, but I have very little faith in anything changing. Buyer beware of ANY solar company operating out of 1/990 Whitehorse Road, Box Hill Victoria - I have no doubt they would re-start under another name rather than address the abysmal service they offer as Sunbank Solar. I am immensely frustrated and disappointed when all you want to do is your little bit for the planet and scammers such as Sunbank Solar are happy to prey on that and take your money. UPDATE - I did finally get some positive action. Electrician returned and now the system is running properly. Its just a shame it took so long and so much of my time to get a reaction.

Solar Panel installation - Perfect!!! – My solar panel installation went perfectly. Joseph and his offsider turned up on time, walked me through the installation process and then got the job done. There were a couple of broken tiles .... I had some spares, so they sorted that out. They organised all the paper work and sent that through electronically. An awesome job. And my system is now humming away and saving me a bomb. Thanks Sunbank! Show details ·  1

No Communication, Battery not working – I’m really not happy with how the communication on how the battery would be installed has happened. See attached photo and compared it your website example. Its a bloody big difference on what mine looks like (plus the switch and large safety sign on the other side of the battery)!!!!!!!!!! The installers came to install my battery and it has… Read more

end up at my front door. I feel there should have been more communication before install to advise me of my option where and why the battery needs so much space. I had no time to think about where I would have put the battery and also the installer said we only have some much cable.

I feel that I should have the option of buying more cable so the battery bank and the most ugliest switch, plus the large safety sign could have been located on my house in a place that didn’t sit at my front door. The large fibre cement sheeting looks stupid and no discussed with me on what material my weather boards are made of. My weather boards are fibre cement already and are not flammable!

Not only is it ugly, it also isn’t working and I ask the install before they left was it wired correctly? As the sun was setting and the battery % of charge was still going up fast (installer even said it was going up fast), look to me that they have wired the battery wrong and its charging from the grid. Which instead of saving me money, might actual be cost me money to charge!!!!!!!!!

So why did they leave knowing that it wasn’t working and not making any effort to organise to get it fixed? Making me call and try to get it sorted the next day. Which at this stage I still don’t know when the tech person going to come and sort out. They where talking about being Thursday, but still needed to check.

All I have is at least I haven't sign the loan, so no fix no money to Sunbank :)

Just an update as I have been ask by Sunbank to amend my review

So I just finding out that I'm not part of the pilot plan yet, even though I only called up due to the pilot VPP When I was on the phone originally I had pay m,y deposit to lock in my spot on the pilot plan VPP. After paying my deposit and getting the battery up and going ( the battery bank is actual a nice product) I now have to change Power providers to get onto the VPP. Not once at the start of this did they explan to me in full that I would need to change power companies. Not once was there a quote from this power provider of what they will charge me to import power! So after talking to the guy on the phone he went back and listen to my phone call and said they did tell me this. I ask for a copy of the recording and said they will not release it to me. I 100% feel like I have been fooled!! into getting the battery bank under this idea that I'll be part of a pilot plan VPP which would give me higher feed in tariffs of 10 to 20 times higher and there was only a limited number of spots!!!

Good system but had some process issues – I have a well performing Solar Panel and Battery system from Sunbank Solar but I had some issues with some misleading information from the initial sales call and a payback guarantee not being applied correctly to my order and me not being sent the terms and conditions for it until later. Installation went fine. This was eventually resolved via… Read more

Sunbank Solar internal complaints team but did drag on for some time. Sunbank Solar have advised me the internal processes failings that led to my issues have been improved.

Failed to achieve effective installation – The Company promotes a package including an energy trading scheme, an APP and a billing partner. However, they limit themselves to the battery installation. All care but no responsibility after that. There's 4 parties involved. None of them take ownership of the package - leaving buyers to fumble along. With respect to the installation, their… Read more

electrical contractor got the wiring wrong. They returned to fix it, without notifying us they would be on the premises.

It turns out Members Energy were responsible for initiating a change from the Smart Meter installed at the time the battery was installed (consumer thinks that was the required meter change, but consumer was wrong). It took them about 15 months of complaints from me before they twigged the problem. Then the APP wouldn't work. Further delays.

Now working fine.

Dean from Sunbank tells me they now give customers more information than I got. But won't take ownership of the drop-off between them and Members Energy. Wants me to pursue a claim with Members Energy and drop/update my review. You are reading the updated text.

My recommendation: find a cheaper battery provider (it turns out there's a few); or find a battery provider that has full systems integration and implementation with a trading scheme and a billing agency.

And: avoid Members Energy.

POOR - AVOID – The electrical contractor messed up the wiring. Took about a week to get that fixed. Sunbank are associated with 3 other companies to deliver the product. No-one takes ownership of your business. In Tasmania, Members Energy, Energy Locals and Evergen together provide woeful service. It took them about a year to sort out their side of things … Read more

(install correct meter, Sunbank installed wrong one. Evergen had to manually modify out account to get it working).

The energy trading scheme pays cents per day, but costs $1.10 a day to be a Member.

Backup power costs extra. But the battery is allowed to discharge so much that it has no reserve for overnight blackouts. The owner has no control of this parameter. Without the backup function, the setup is not economic. Payback exceeds warranty duration.

Overall Good – I was offered a discount on an additional battery but it took a few months for them to order the additional parts because offering an installation date. On the day of installation I was also told that they had to remove the and install the battery at a different place due to lack of wall space which may incur additional charges. Luckily they waved the additional charges and offered to install at the different spot at no additional cost. Show details

Great performing battery pack & excellent price point! – Overall I've been very happy with our Hive system, Despite an early failure the team diagnosed remotely and replaced the faulty battery in short order. Added an additional battery about 6 months ago and the while we're not "off grid" we are substantially self sufficient for large parts of year, very happy. Show details