Hi Guys

 

i came across the below advertisement. 

https://www.lesswatts.co.za/shop/sunsynk-5kw-5-32kwh-combo-1689?fbclid=IwAR1t6kZHNWnPvPzB8f9M9yYhUy5zcOmhiKNbIM_bKIVQdf3-o75lLcPPy5M&mibextid=Zxz2cZ#attr= 
 

the price is too good to be true, which is why I am here. 
has anyone used this provider before?

are they trustworthy?

 

TIA

 

 

 

 

 

Price is super-sus

 

The address leads us to a bunch of companies,as does the contact number

Examples:

https://bizwisp.co.za/

Sojama Electronics

RubiBlue

 

The Company also has 1 8year-old google review that's 3stars

Not looking good

Edited May 16, 20233 yr by PsyWulf

Nope. I know the owner

 Small business but legit.

If you go to the home page of the website you would have difficulty in finding that they have anything for sale! Not how I would try and sell stuff.LOL

14 hours ago, Devesh said:

Hi Guys

 

i came across the below advertisement. 

https://www.lesswatts.co.za/shop/sunsynk-5kw-5-32kwh-combo-1689?fbclid=IwAR1t6kZHNWnPvPzB8f9M9yYhUy5zcOmhiKNbIM_bKIVQdf3-o75lLcPPy5M&mibextid=Zxz2cZ#attr= 
 

the price is too good to be true, which is why I am here. 
has anyone used this provider before?

are they trustworthy?

 

TIA

 

 

 

 

 

That price looks almost to be under cost, I would do more research before spending any money there.

Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, they don't do credit card transactions, only bank transfers

3 minutes ago, Sc00bs said:

Wouldn't touch it with a barge pole, they don't do credit card transactions, only bank transfers

Yeah looks suspect.

But the not offering credit card options no longer a criteria I look at, but I may be biased on that statement as I also only take cash on my website. Mostly due to the low margins I work on, so does not justify the high CC processing fees.
BUT - I meet with my clients in person and usually only in my suburb where they can actually come to my house where I have lived for over 10 years

Lesswatt ?   What an idiot name.  It reminds me of a Pretoria company calling itself Papnatbesproeing. 🙄

Buying from Lesswatt will leave a hole in your pocket with NoWatt.

Checked on Whois and the wayback machine and the site has been running since 2011, so who knows.

Fake sites usually have only recently been registered so could be wrong.

Would be careful in any case.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130315000000*/lesswatts.co.za

 

I find it hard to comprehend that there are always a couple of people who spend so much time to prove that others are not to be trusted.

Have a look at this article which was published in a local newspaper after we installed a 160kW solar system in the Brits area: Top SA energy company LessWatts switches Brits to solar (mypr.co.za)

Quote

19 hours ago, Modina said:

Lesswatt ?   What an idiot name.  It reminds me of a Pretoria company calling itself Papnatbesproeing. 🙄

Buying from Lesswatt will leave a hole in your pocket with NoWatt.

 

Please refer to my previous post. We all carry huge responsabilitiy in the comments we make about others.

Please find attached a pictures of just two installation we have done recently for customers. Dare I ask whether you recognise the brand and the architecture associated with each and explain the difference between the two on this forum for others to admire your knowledge of PV solutions.

 

Edited May 18, 20233 yr by Ignatius
To add more pictures of installs we have done.

@IgnatiusI don't care how good your installations are.  I'm a engineer and I sometimes hate the marketing men who just waffle and often make more money than the manufacturer.  But this is how the world works.  Marketing makes or breaks a business.  Without marketing most companies would not exist.  Your company name is just plain silly.  I am not going to pull any punches here.  You obviously do not know the most basics of psychology.  Your company name is the first contact to your potential client.  With a badly chosen name, you will be the target of jokers and nobody with a brain will take you seriously.  With a silly name, you will have to under-cut everyone to get any business.

I already gave the example of a Pretoria company - Papnatbesproeing.  The name will only attract rice and water-lily growers.  The name triggers images of burst pipes, leaky valves and dripping taps in my mind (!)

My advise is for you to see a marketer or at least someone with some sociology skills and language creativity and find a new business name.  Yes, it will be painful to change it, but long term it will be worth it.

3 hours ago, Ignatius said:

I find it hard to comprehend that there are always a couple of people who spend so much time to prove that others are not to be trusted.

Are you kidding me?  Are you surprised???????  REALLY?  Where the hell have you been the last three years? 

I have always considered myself reasonable knowledgeable about the world.  But I was WRONG.  Today it feels that I have been living under a rock for the last 30+ years.  EVERYTHING is FAKE.  Big-C has finally opened my eyes.  Today I question EVERYTHING, trust NO-ONE.  TV and MSM is only showing us a movie.  Today I am a big fan of conspiracies - I am one of those mad people you are constantly warned about!

@Modina, would you like to answer the second question too?

 

2 hours ago, Ignatius said:

I find it hard to comprehend that there are always a couple of people who spend so much time to prove that others are not to be trusted.

Have a look at this article which was published in a local newspaper after we installed a 160kW solar system in the Brits area: Top SA energy company LessWatts switches Brits to solar (mypr.co.za)

Hi @Ignatius

Thank you for confirming that you guys are in fact a legit company.

Your deals do look very good.

I am not sure if you have seen the list of companies on the scam list, there are daily posts on the forum from people who have been scammed. 

Unfortunately as a result I think that it is a case of guilty until proven innocent at the moment in the solar industry as there are just way too many scam artists out there.

 

10 hours ago, Ignatius said:

I find it hard to comprehend that there are always a couple of people who spend so much time to prove that others are not to be trusted.

Have a look at this article which was published in a local newspaper after we installed a 160kW solar system in the Brits area: Top SA energy company LessWatts switches Brits to solar (mypr.co.za)

Ignatius,I'll address you directly here but this applicable in general. I commend you for coming online but I have a few things to point out:

You shouldn't go out calling people out for erring on the side of caution when scams are so rife in the industry. You should rather be thanking them and taking advice to heart

Nothing that anybody pointed at was addressed,and is common with scam operations so other than being vocal you've done little else to dissuade such commentary

 

Regarding MyPR - you'd be better served with the Newspaper print,MyPR is not a verified primary source

Now if I were you i'd go as far as trying to build a forum reputation by perhaps seeing if you could service forum members on a COD basis,have the members speak for themselves reviewing you.

6 hours ago, Modina said:

TV and MSM is only showing us a movie.

The terms MSM and propaganda was popularized and demonized by a literal Nazi propagandist to dissuade people from actual sources. Your opinion on it just echos Nazi propaganda

I was about to post and recommend staying away from this company until you or someone defended it. Even then scammers are everywhere trying their best to disguise. Iam one of those who will spend time to disprove a company that is looks dodgy. Yes, today question everything, there are more scammers out there waiting for our hard earned cash.

I still haven't seen anything to put me at ease about LessWatts. Sorry, but a website where companies can register themselves and submit their own press releases, that's just not reliable. Maybe the company is legit, maybe not, I can't say, but there's not enough online presence to give me a warm gut feeling that this is above board, or even to dig deeper than the surface if I'm in the market to buy solar products. Certainly I'm not ready to spend tens or hundreds or thousands of Rands here.

Again, I don't know,but surely there should be some Powerforum members in the vicinity that could check it out, or some good customer references to go with it.

The only thing I can say for sure is that this PR strategy of getting confrontational with a member of a public forum is highly questionable. I get that it's supposed to be your business and you've been publicly attacked, you have to do something to protect your reputation, but then rather open the doors and showcase the company to all and leave it at that.

All else I can see are a couple of random shots of installations that can be from anywhere. And yes, we can see it's a single phase Sunsynk hybrid inverter with Lithium-ion battery, and on the other hand some SMA Tri-Power PV inverters probably AC-coupled onto three Sunny Islands connected to a FreedomWon battery in a 3-phase configuration (my 2c, could be wrong), but that still doesn't make me want to be the customer who gets into a dispute with you. Then all I can remember is the snarky vitriolic commentary.

 

Edited May 18, 20233 yr by GreenFields

I can't remember where I read it, but it was reported that the SA solar & alt energy market has the highest scam and fraudulent incidences of all sectors at the moment.  And I am not surprised.  There is still a severe shortage of hardware.  For interest, I had a look at Google Earth pictures a few days ago, and even in affluent neighbourhoods, most roofs are still naked...  People are desperate to get systems installed and are easy and soft targets.

Loosing 2 or 3K is painful enough, but there have been a few Powerforum members that placed orders for inverters and lithium batteries for at least 40K+ which they lost.  This is not small change.  People need to make all possible checks.  I expect that fraudsters will soon start operating under reputable company names to entrust clients.

I fully understand that it is difficult to identify legitimate installers and also, I am sure there are other installers who also try their best to adhere to quality and legislative requirements. It has become hard in the solar industry to compete on price with other installers.

Luckily, legislation and standards bodies is trying to address this problem. One initiative was for the establishment of a solar industry ombud who can assist with disputes. AREP (The Association for Renewable Energy Practisioners) of which we subscribe to was party to the establishment of the Ombud's office. To log a dispute, the ombud can be reached at [email protected].