ATLANTA — A Georgia woman stuck with a nearly $90,000 solar panel system that did not work as promised fought back in binding arbitration and won.
“Don’t continue to be bullied and taken advantage of because you feel that you can’t get out, you can win,” Stephanie Parker told Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray.
For more than a year, Channel 2 Action News has reported on problems with customers of Pink Energy.
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It used to go by the name Power Home Solar.
The company first declared bankruptcy and then went out of business.
Many customers were left with solar panel systems that did not work as promised and nowhere to turn.
They also were still left holding the bill through a finance company called GoodLeap.
“I never got a product that worked, and it was very demanding. They wanted their money,” Parker said.
Retired Atlanta firefighter Oz Deas told Channel 2 Action News last July how he owes GoodLeap $80,000 for a Pink Energy solar system that was only generating about $2 worth of power a month.
“It’s not working, and it has not worked one day,” Deas said.
Parker said not only was her $89,000 Pink Energy system not working correctly but installers also damaged her newly installed roof.
“The solar wasn’t working. I wasn’t seeing any savings. None of that stuff was taking place. Matter of fact, my utility bill had jumped up almost double,” she said.
Parker fought back against her GoodLeap debt through binding arbitration and won.
The arbitrator writing in the ruling that GoodLeap holds some responsibility for Pink Energy’s mistakes saying, “The Agreement places in Goodleap control of many of Pink Energy’s actions with its potential customers.”
Parker was awarded more than $40,000 and her remaining debt and her contract with GoodLeap were voided.
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“The Federal Trade Commission has decided that lenders do have some responsibility when they make bad business decisions to partner with companies that are deceiving consumers, and they are liable,” Parker’s attorney Jarrett Faber said.
Faber is currently representing more than 30 clients in similar arbitration disputes with GoodLeap.
“A company will email people and tell people, sorry, you’re out of luck, you’ve got to continue to pay on your loan. And that’s not what the Federal Trade Commission has said. That’s not what Georgia law says,” Faber said.
We reached out to GoodLeap for comment. They have not responded.
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