SunGift Solar Limited

We ordered solar batteries from Sungift in December 2022 with a promised delivery early February 2023. February arrived and were told delivery would be April but alternative batteries were available immediately although more expensive. So we agreed and asked for an installation date as soon as possible. That didn't get scheduled until 7th March 2023 but job not completed that day as installer wrongly informed of requirements. It took another week for Head Electrician to come to assess what was needed to complete the installation and then another week for it to be done. That was over a week ago but we have no idea if the installation is working because we have not been provided with the information needed to monitor and control it. Although Sungift have previously enjoyed good reviews and indeed awards, what has become apparent since dealing with them is that they now have more work than they can efficiently manage or handle. Their Operations Manager has rarely answered our polite emails asking when the next outstanding issue was going to be dealt with and has now gone completely silent in response to emails and phone messages left. So the installation which we originally expected to be completed by mid February finally got done in mid March but we don't know if it's working or how to use it. Thus I am writing this review in the hope that their senior management team gets to know how poor their service now is and is concerned enough to do something about it.

We run Manleys B&B in Devon and have used Sungift Solar for many years. In 2013 they installed a complete heating system including a boiler, radiators, log burner with back boiler and solar thermal panels, all linked to a hot water tank, which is all still working well. In 2020 Sungift Solar installed a 5.36 kw PV system and this has proven to be an excellent investment. This summer my best estimate is that our total electricity bill is costing less than the daily standing charge of 48 pence a day before VAT. I estimate that even on current electricity prices [27 pence per kwh] we are saving £3.46 per day compared to the situation if we did not have PV installed. Although it is difficult to work out the precise payback period, it will only reduce over the coming winter when unit prices are scheduled to increase massively. In my opinion PV is now a 'no-brainer' and I am not surprised that Sungift Solar has a full order book for domestic PV because they deliver to a high standard. My only negative relates to some of the paperwork as there was a significant delay in receiving the MCS certificate, which is required before claiming SEG. Despite this reservation I am happy to recommend Sungift Solar.

I phoned Sungift Solar when an inverter on my system broke down. My original installer had ceased trading. Their service was exceptional. I was put in touch with their maintenance department and they agreed they would do the work. They contacted the inverter manufacturers arranged for deliver of a new inverter to my home. Arranged a date for the work and kept in touch of progress on delivery of the new inverter. The inverter arrived a week before scheduled engineer visit and I informed maintenance of its arrival. An hour later I had a call to ask if they could carry out the repair that afternoon. An engineer arrived an hour later. He was one of the best engineers I have encountered, very friendly and professional. Not only did he complete the job in 30 minutes, but he transferred all our system details to Sungift Solar and called back from his home in the evening to check everything was working. Fantastic service I cannot praise the company enough.

After sourcing three separate quotes we went with Sungift due to competitiveness and a bit of the advice. Please be aware these are the sales people, so will charm you to get the cash through the door. Installation was scheduled during lockdown and we were impressed with the professionalism and friendliness of the installers, however when the project overran, rather than finish ours off they left site to start another project. When we did get completed we weren't provided with the relevant details to give to our electricity provider so that we would get paid for excess solar. We appreciate the impact COVID will have had on everyone, though it is now almost four months since installation completion and still haven't got the details needed despite repeated chasing of Sungift. Make sure you get all this before paying any final instalments.

Sungift Solar have been excellent to work with. Helpful with advice, offered good proposals and incredibly hardworking when it came to installation time. Everything clean and tidy when completed and all installers excellent to be around. Delighted with the installation.

My first contacts with Sungift were excellent, with the facts laid out very well - we felt the system choices we made were very good and we are still delighted with it. We chose solar panels and a battery system, and we chose to go with Sungift. However, after we signed the contract and the work was commissioned, communications went completely awry. The work carried out by the installers was of a high quality, but ongoing communications were appalling. The installation involved complex electrical work on our roof and throughout the house which we had to co-ordinate with work carried out by our own electrician. Having to talk to a different member of staff every step of the way made for inappropriately poor continuity of service and frequent miscommunications requiring my regular and sometimes frequent intensive chasing of them regarding everything from simple dates to complex technical issues. This was very inconvenient for us and sometimes frustrating and worrying for us. I appointed my own single point of contact and insisted on dealing with all issues through that person, who, to be fair, did his best. The Sungift communication system is, however, broken. In my view they should immediately adopt a customer focussed system with a single point of contact for customers' issues. I'm afraid that whilst Sungift's work was very good, I can only recommend them if you are prepared to take 100% of the initiative for communications every step of the way.

SunGift Solar are excellent at providing, useful information and advice, with communications, with quality installation, and with quality products. The initial survey through to the final Installation was carried out by knowledgeable and professional engineers. The whole process from initial contact to completion of the project was one of total competence. I would not hesitate in recommending SunGift Thank-you to all at SunGift.

Installed our 16-panel domestic solar PV system in December. Excellent experience all-round. Would have given a 4.5 on account of a slow post-installation (and payment of balance) support so I could apply for the FiT. But in fairness this was all around the Christmas period. Otherwise though, couldn't fault the quotation process, survey (although needs jargon-busting a bit), pre-installation communication, installation process itself and the ease of paying. We got a quote from one other supplier and SunGift were well under. But I have no other direct comparison to say how good a value they offered, but seemed reasonable based on what others have told me. All those I dealt with were professional, knowledgeable and happy to help. Would happily recommend.

Sungift are the company to use. They were fantastic every step of the way. From my first telephone call asking for a quote to the completion of the job nothing seemed too much trouble. Unlike some of the other companies there was no hard sell. They took time to establish what we were trying to achieve and set about designing a system that met those needs. If you had asked me before the process started I would have been of the opinion that one solar installation is the same as all the others what matters is getting the price down. I would have been wrong. There are ways of cheapening the system but some of those lead to a loss of functionality. Sungift advised me, and advised me very well how to get the most out of our system. We are in an area where power cuts happen frequently, with the system we have (including a battery ) we can continue to have power during a power cut. We are looking forward to having significantly reduced electricity bills from here on, if you would like that too get sungift to design and fit your system. They tailored ours much better than the competitors, I strongly recommend them.

Sungift Energy were recommended to me and they were excellent from the very informative initial visit through to final implementation. Due to not sub-contracting any of their work, including scaffolding, I felt confident in the work being carried out. After 5 years I am very pleased with the performance of the panels and also the response from Sungift whenever I have contacted them.