GRGrowatt★★★★★
To add to my review below
To add to my review below, please look at the response from Growatt, I wrote the problem was caused by a faulty Growatt power meter which they know as they supplied the replacement part under warranty yet they have tried to deflect the blame to the installer workmanship.
My installer is an accredited solar installer, if he diagnoses the issue he does not get paid for his time or effort by Growatt, he either wears the cost or the customer pays.
When I contacted the supplier of the Growatt equipment he did not want to know about the warranty issue, he said get the installer to arrange. The installer was not keen either hence I had to do all the leg work.
If Growatt has installers and suppliers who are happy to arrange warranty work free of charge to the end user then they should list on their website who they are as I was not able to find anyone who would.
I'm not knocking Growatt support themselves, they do provide good support just keep in mind your most likely going to end up having to pay someone to come out to your site to work with them to diagnose the issue to their satisfaction so any repairs done under warranty are likley not to be free of charge to the user.
2025-05-08
GRGrowatt★★★★★
No field staff for warranty issues.
My experience with this company starts a few years back when I purchased a roof top solar system. The supplied inverter was a Growatt unit which went faulty after one day. It was however speediy replaced by the company that installed the replacement unit andworked well for several years.
Last year I decided to upgrade the system to an inverter that was battery ready and have batteries installed. I purchased a Growatt battery ready inverter and batteries etc and engaged an accredited solar install electrician to come out and swap out the exisitng inverter and install the batteries. The unit powered up and worked ok for a day again! On day 2 I found the inverter to be displaying a Warning 401 which is can't communicate with the power meter warning. The power meter is a small device that is installed in the house switch board to monitor power flow in and out of your house so that the inverter can control how much power it sends to your house appliances, the batteries or the grid etc.
After a bit of investigation on my part, "luckily I'm a techo" I worked out the power meter was faulty and contacted Growatt support and that was the first issue. The installer I hired a registered solar installer, had no recent contact number for Growatt. I searched the web for contact numbers on their website and tried calling them but could not get through with the call always going to voice mail and no one returning my calls. I eventually found a number on Jims solar page for warranty support and which was not listed on the Growatt website. When I called that number I did finally get their customer support and from that point on was fairly smooth sailing with them at that time happy to work with the end user with me being their arms and legs which is a moot point. I did the testing for them supplying multi pictures of voltage readings and how and where I was connecting the test equipment. Eventually they agreed the meter was faulty and sent me a new one. Luckily they were happy to work with me as my installer didn't want to get involved as it was a time consuming excersize which really was not his fault as it should have been a simple warranty claim. If any other appliance goes faulty ie a TV, ducted heater or hot water system etc you ring up the manufacturer and generally not the poeple that installed the equipment. The manufacturer then sends out a service person and they fix the problem free of charge assuming the warranty covers the issue. Growatt however as I wrote above don't have field service people so you or your electrician has to do that work for them they only replace the faulty component free of charge.
Come 8 months later, I find Warning 401 again, pretty poor really, 8 months two fulty power meters, not looking good for the next 9 years of the warranty period. I contact Growatt, they have now changed their support system, they no longer want to talk to the end user just the installer. Even then they don't want to talk directly to the installer on site but prefer that the installer email them. I pressed the point that the installer does not want to get involved in warranty claims etc as he either has to wear the costs himself which is not fair on him or the customer has to pay him to locate what the faulty equipment is, get a replacement and swap it out which is time consuming and expensive and really Growatts responsibility as the equipment under warranty.
To give you an example I spent pretty much an entire day taken voltage measurements and proving Growatt support people with pictures of the readings they required. This involved things like what is the serial number of the faulty device, now due to the fact the serial number is on the side of the device you have to uninstall it to take a picture. They then want voltage readings so you have to reinstall the faulty device to get the readings one at a time as they request them and send to them via email and wait for a response then send them the next bit of info, in other words your electrician become their field staff. Cost of electrician being on site for a day doing their field work probably about $2000. He then has to process the warranty claim which he may or may not charge you for then he has to come back to swap out the unit so say another $300. $2300 to swap out a part that costs about $100. When you spend $18000 on a system you would expect the company to have field staff that can come out and test and replace the faulty part like any other appliance manufacture when the unit goes faulty within the warranty period, free of cost to the purchaser.
If your going to have a Growatt system installed then I would recommend you get a company to install equipment that will gaurantee not cost to you if a warranty claim is required. Keep in mind such a gaurantee is only good if the installer remains in business for the warranty period, many don't.
2025-04-30
