Horrible experience with Sunsynk support and warranty claim

[Wynem]

23 hours ago, Gavin286 said:

And what do you suggest as an alternative?

If you have the cash..go with Victron. Alternatively look at the more cost effective units like Growatt or Luxpower. 

[Sc00bs]

On 2023/03/28 at 3:09 AM, Keith Gough said:

Generally are returned rate is extremely low. The  problem is our sales, extremely high even 0.004% results in a lot of returns.

As we really appreciate your support of our brand we have made a decision with all our major distributors. Any customer who has returned an inverter and it has not been repaired or looked at for over two weeks they have proof of the item being returned to our service centre our distributor will offer a brand-new replacement. subject to Ts and Cs 

No customer should wait more than two weeks to have an inverter, repaired or replaced. That is my commitment.
 

Keith Gough

ceo 

 

 

 

Hi @Keith Gough

Thank you making that commitment on the service level we can expect on our Sunsynk repairs.  

Can you please detail for everyone what process we need to follow if a repair is taking longer than two weeks.

At the moment, I am have not received any feedback on my repair status, I sent an email asking for an update but have received no response. 

You also, you mentioned that there are T's & C's, can you details what they are or where we can find them so we are aware of what we need to do as well. 

Thanks

[Leshen]

1 hour ago, Sc00bs said:

Hi @Keith Gough

Thank you making that commitment on the service level we can expect on our Sunsynk repairs.  

Can you please detail for everyone what process we need to follow if a repair is taking longer than two weeks.

At the moment, I am have not received any feedback on my repair status, I sent an email asking for an update but have received no response. 

You also, you mentioned that there are T's & C's, can you details what they are or where we can find them so we are aware of what we need to do as well. 

Thanks

Hi John. 
 

I handed in an 8kw Sunsynk last week. The guy who processed the warranty claim told me minimum 2 months to have it looked at. Luckily I have spare units. 

[Peter V]

1 hour ago, Superfly said:

Dunno why everyone is so Sunsynk - I agree with @Wynem Victron is a steep cost and learning curve but once over the hill it's plain sailing... 

I have Victron and agree that it is great equipment but I had a small issue which remains unresolved and have had to overcome it with a work-a-round. Victron SA will not offer direct support and expect that support to be provided by the distributor who supplied that equipment. It then becomes the merry-go-round of installer > Distributor > Victron, etc. Fortunately mine was not hardware failure but incompatability between my GX controller and a new router that I installed. Solution was to install a dedicated LTE router but not what I wanted. 

Oh BTW, had I installed Sunsynk, I would have left over R30K in my bank account (the cost of a full spare inverter installed!)

Edited April 16, 2023 by Peter V

[Modina]

About Victron equipment - two things to note:

1.  Victron does not keep spares for equipment older than 10 years.  Not a problem for someone that repairs down to component level, but it seems repair centres are only repairing on a PCB exchange level.  That would make equipment U/S.

2. Victron makes a lot of IP65 equipment that is 100% water proof, etc.  This stuff is good for your yacht or bundu-bashing (for vibration), but it is throw-away equipment.  These items are potted and totally unrepairable.  Below is a link showing how people literally cut blue boxes open with a hacksaw or angle grinder, so as to replace a fuse.  There are many other similar videos. These MPPTs are fully functional and only a fuse is blown, yet the whole damn thing needs to be thrown into the garbage.
 

 

[Johandup]

My son in law had a Deye 8kw installed on a lease. Company guy told him they’ve got a 1000 installed units. If there is any trouble they swop it out immediately. 
Suppose its horses for courses. 

[Leshen]

26 minutes ago, Superfly said:

LOL.. Yep ... it's horses for courses ... I never had issues with my Victron setup .. but I appreciate others have different setups ..I still think the upfront cost of a tried and tested system (in harsh environments like boats) outweighs  the immediate R30k saving... just IMHO

My Sunsynk 8kw has been running great for 3 years. I have produced on average 1500kwh a month which is around 54000kwh. Never skipped a beat. 

[Sc00bs]

1 hour ago, Leshen said:

Hi John. 
 

I handed in an 8kw Sunsynk last week. The guy who processed the warranty claim told me minimum 2 months to have it looked at. Luckily I have spare units. 

Two months before they look at the repair is crazy!

I booked my inverter in two weeks ago on Monday and have received no feedback from them apart from confirmation they received it. 

Hence my question to @Keith Gough  as to where I go to from here as I really don't want to be waiting for two-three  months to get my inverter back. 

[Steve87]

The honeymoon is over. When so many units enter the market you need to escalate your support. Looks like this market is still in a frenzy. Hence I say we need to be self sufficient. The Kodak or Voltronics that Forum members can open up & fix still seems the way to go. Also don't expect PCB board & surface mount component level repairs. The same way as you won't find any mechanics in large dealerships carrying out parts repairs & overhaul like starter motors etc. 

The modern world wants to charge components & be done with it. @BritishRacingGreen& @Coulomb& a few others can surface mount repair. Please if we have a willing candidate of a Sunsynk or Deye to donate or even the Victron stuff. If you have a dead inverter please donate it to us. We can't guarantee a repair but sure a hell we will find the problem & if that problem needs new IGBTs or Capacitors we have the expertise right here on this forum. 

& Yes we have access to the repair manuals for all models including Sunsynk. Better than the crazy long indefinite wait. 

[Sc00bs]

There is a post on the Sunsynk Facebook group as well https://bit.ly/3GMNHT8 

[Bobster.]

3 hours ago, Superfly said:

Dunno why everyone is so Sunsynk - I agree with @Wynem Victron is a steep cost and learning curve but once over the hill it's plain sailing... 

Sunsynk hit the market not long after I had my Goodwe installed. They made a big splash and got a good name early on. The pricing and the feature set were very good.

So word gets around, and the word became "Sunsynk".

I don't have an axe to grind with any inverter brand, but it does seem to me that Victron is good quality but also you need too many bits. With Sunysnk, Growatt, Goodwe, or even the good old Axpert, everything is there and connected in one unit and so you have less doohickeys to worry about and to get working together. IMO this is where Victron loses appeal to some folks.

[Modina]

1 minute ago, Bobster. said:

I don't have an axe to grind with any inverter brand, but it does seem to me that Victron is good quality but also you need too many bits. With Sunysnk, Growatt, Goodwe, or even the good old Axpert, everything is there and connected in one unit and so you have less doohickeys to worry about and to get working together. IMO this is where Victron loses appeal to some folks.

It goes beyond the cost of buying separate inverter, MPPTs, AC battery chargers, etc.  I battled just to get lugs fit over my battery cables, and then they needed to be crimped....  You need all sorts of hardware (doohickeys )and manpower to connect everything together and it opens the door to possible wiring errors.  We all can have a blond moment occasionally. 

[Antonio de Sa]

40 minutes ago, Bobster. said:

Sunsynk hit the market not long after I had my Goodwe installed. They made a big splash and got a good name early on. The pricing and the feature set were very good.

So word gets around, and the word became "Sunsynk".

I don't have an axe to grind with any inverter brand, but it does seem to me that Victron is good quality but also you need too many bits. With Sunysnk, Growatt, Goodwe, or even the good old Axpert, everything is there and connected in one unit and so you have less doohickeys to worry about and to get working together. IMO this is where Victron loses appeal to some folks.

Just my experience with my growatt repair. Took it to the supplier namely ellyehillpower.co.za. tested and repaired while I waited. less that 1 hour, repair done (easy, slow and comfortable) asked how they have done it so quick, answer plain and simple. replace faulty board. they have spares of all kind of Growatt boards. The faulty boards then go to the electronic repair shop, repaired at component level and returned to the service workshop to be used again. Why can't Sunsynk do something similar?

 

[Leshen]

1 minute ago, Antonio de Sa said:

Just my experience with my growatt repair. Took it to the supplier namely ellyehillpower.co.za. tested and repaired while I waited. less that 1 hour, repair done (easy, slow and comfortable) asked how they have done it so quick, answer plain and simple. replace faulty board. they have spares of all kind of Growatt boards. The faulty boards then go to the electronic repair shop, repaired at component level and returned to the service workshop to be used again. Why can't Sunsynk do something similar?

 

They used to when Shabir was the head technician but they fired him. Having been there last week, there is around 200 inverters waiting to be repaired so I don’t think the 2 week timeframe is realistic. 

[Antonio de Sa]

6 minutes ago, Leshen said:

They used to when Shabir was the head technician but they fired him. Having been there last week, there is around 200 inverters waiting to be repaired so I don’t think the 2 week timeframe is realistic. 

@Leshen is this at Sunsynk workshop? or at Elleyhill power? +_ 200 units "eish" they are falling like flies. 

[Leshen]

3 minutes ago, Antonio de Sa said:

@Leshen is this at Sunsynk workshop? or at Elleyhill power? +_ 200 units "eish" they are falling like flies. 

Yes. This is at the the repair centre. 

[Sc00bs]

5 hours ago, Superfly said:

Yep they are not serviceable - but they don't break if you know what you are doing...Hmmmm 

My one broke, what u trying to say

[Scorp007]

8 hours ago, Leshen said:

Hi John. 
 

I handed in an 8kw Sunsynk last week. The guy who processed the warranty claim told me minimum 2 months to have it looked at. Luckily I have spare units. 

Perhaps one need to hear more real life examples from installers like you. 

Then over time see if things improve!! 

[Leshen]

9 minutes ago, Scorp007 said:

Perhaps one need to hear more real life examples from installers like you. 

Then over time see if things improve!! 

Overall, it’s a great inverter. I have installed close to 150 units and of those, only 4 had failed due to a factory fault. 
 

Seems like the repair centre also does Deye, Fusion and all the other rebranded units which adds to the lengthy turnaround time. 

[Peter V]

12 minutes ago, Leshen said:

Overall, it’s a great inverter. I have installed close to 150 units and of those, only 4 had failed due to a factory fault. 
 

Seems like the repair centre also does Deye, Fusion and all the other rebranded units which adds to the lengthy turnaround time. 

That is beginning to sound like a fairly significant failure rate but to get away from statistics, statistics and bl***dy lies, in what time frame did they fail?

[abd7]

2 hours ago, Leshen said:

Overall, it’s a great inverter. I have installed close to 150 units and of those, only 4 had failed due to a factory fault. 
 

Seems like the repair centre also does Deye, Fusion and all the other rebranded units which adds to the lengthy turnaround time. 

What would be the benefit of the sunsynk over the deye then? 

The supposed major benefit of the sunsynk was the local support... But if they all getting repaired together... 

[Leshen]

2 hours ago, Peter V said:

That is beginning to sound like a fairly significant failure rate but to get away from statistics, statistics and bl***dy lies, in what time frame did they fail?

That’s definitely not a significant failure rate. Time frame - 36 months

[Leshen]

3 minutes ago, abd7 said:

What would be the benefit of the sunsynk over the deye then? 

The supposed major benefit of the sunsynk was the local support... But if they all getting repaired together... 

The benefit for me is that the Sunsynk has a better UI. 

[TimCam]

With the increase in Eskom load-shedding, the installed inverter base is increasing at an alarming rate. Most common brands are SunSynk / Deye way ahead of the rest, then followed by the voltronics crowd. Victron installs are few and far between, compared to the rest.

All electronic equipment can fail, especially with the number of DIY installs, and shady companies doing half jobs.

Obviously the larger market share you have, the percentage of failures goes up, and your success can bite you in the butt, if you can't ramp up the service channel quickly enough. Problem there is if you ramp up the service channel to match the demand, when the demand tapers off, you are over-staffed. Very common problem this.

As for my SunSynk 8.8 kW inverter, it has served me well without a problem. Through lightning storms that made me cringe, and wild grid voltage variations from 180V to 266V. Oh! and what is this load-shedding people talk about?

[Mandi]

We installed a 8KW Sunsynk inverter mid 2022.  The app stopped working after a short while and no response as to a fix to the problem was forthcoming.  In Dec 2022 the system stopped working.  It was removed by our installer and sent back to Sunsynk for a warranty repair.  This morning 17 April our installer received an email to advise that they will get back to us on an update as to where we are in the “queue” for repairs. 
This is the worst service we have ever received and although the product might be good the after sales support and assistance is in my opinion disgraceful.

I advise anyone wanting to purchase a solar system to look elsewhere