Beverly Janes, 77, has lived in the same Pensacola home for more than 40 years. Before her husband, Donald, passed away several ago, they decided to purchase solar panels for their home after a visit from a door-to-door salesman.
They paid about $86,000 for solar panels they purchased from Meraki Solar, but Janes said the couple believed they weren’t installed properly and they wanted them fixed.
Soon after, another salesman from a different company, Suncor Solar, offered to remove the first set of panels and replace them with a set installed by Suncor.
The elderly couple agreed, mistakenly believing the cost of the second set of solar panels, which was around $80,000, would be covered by the first loan. Beverly Janes’ husband, who showed signs of early onset dementia, then passed away leaving the widow with not only less income but facing two different loans that together totaled well over $160,000.
“Financially, the way it was handled, I just didn’t think it was right,” Janes said. “They had me down for two loans and one guy (salesperson) told me he was going to cancel it (the first loan) and I said, ‘OK,’ and he came back and said, ‘It’s cancelled,’ but he didn’t cancel it.”