Werth Solar leaves customers in the dark when panels not installed

A year and a half after paying a $19,000 deposit for a solar energy package for his home on Nova Scotia's eastern shore, 73-year-old Kit Hood hasn't received a single solar panel from green energy company Werth Solar.

He's complained to the Better Business Bureau, and even took Werth Solar and owner Barry Pincock to small claims court, where an adjudicator found Hood had been given "a total runaround" by a company whose excuses were "bordering on fraud."

"[Pincock] comes across as a jolly, convivial fellow but there's obviously more to him that he does not want us to know," Hood said in an interview with CBC News.

Hood isn't the only unsatisfied customer. He's one of several people interviewed by CBC who made payments to Werth Solar of as much as $20,000 in 2014 for solar panels that were never installed.

One homeowner cashed in RRSPs and remortgaged his home to pay for panels that never materialized. Another bought a voucher at a charity auction and then paid thousands for upgrades that were never done.

'My point was to get him in court'

In Hood's case, he said he made numerous efforts since November 2014 to get the company to deliver on the goods promised for his Lawrencetown home.

On the one-year anniversary of his down payment, he said he filed a fraud complaint with Halifax Regional Police. Finally, this past February, Hood sued the company and Pincock in small claims court.

Hood won the case, but said he's still feeling stiffed. The retired TV producer said he hasn't seen any of the $20,400 he was awarded to cover the refund of his deposit plus interest and court costs.

He doesn't expect to see that money.

"My point was to get him in court.I really hope[d] that the judge would've told him off," Hood said.

'Total runaround'

In his written decision, adjudicator Stephen Johnston found Hood "suffered what can only be described as a total runaround" and called it an unfortunate incident "rife with failed promises and unworthy excuses bordering on fraud."

Johnston said he couldn't determine whether a fraud had been committed, but concluded Pincock's "poor business practices lost Mr. Hood's deposit from a poorly timed purchase of solar panels internationally."

"Instead of being honest with Mr. Hood, Mr. Pincock did not disclose this information initially and came to court believing that the risk of having purchased these solar panels internationally should be on Mr. Hood's shoulders."

More unhappy customers

In the spring of 2014, two women representing Werth Solar showed up at Danny Landry'sdoor. Eager to cut Landry's $244 monthly electricity bill, they talked about going solar for power and heat for his home in Saint-Thomas-de-Kent, N.B.

The package would cost nearly $20,000. Landry, 42, crunched the numbers and figured the system would pay for itself within about 10 years.

So in September 2014, he withdrew RRSPs and remortgaged his home to come up with nearly $12,000 for a deposit.

His payment schedule said the panels would be shipped in about two weeks. But that never happenedand the excuses started, he said.

Injury and weather

"The order got lost on a ship," said Landry, recalling a list of reasons he wasgiven in phone conversations and through emails. Pincock wrote that one of his workers had an accident on the job, which caused a severe head injury and a delay.

And there was the weather. "It's snowing, it's too windy, it's many, many of the other excuses."

Pincock briefly gave Landry a few hundred dollars at a time as Landry's mortgage payments had risen. But Landry said he suspects the move "was just to shut me up so he could possibly gain more victims."

Then there was no communication. Feeling left in the dark, Landry said he went to RCMP and told them he'd been ripped off.

He also created a Facebook group for other disgruntled customers, which he said numbers in the teens and totals $126,700 in claims. Landry also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and threatened legal action.

Customer enticed at benefit auction

Just before Christmas 2014, Matthew Lohnes was in an especially giving mood. The Cole Harbour, N.S., man was at a silent auction for a young woman who had become paralyzed, an innocent bystander in a home invasion. He spotted a Werth Solar gift certificate valued at $2,500, looked up the company on his cellphone, and bought the voucher for $1,500.

It wasn't long before Lohnes, the owner of Dominion Diving, signed a contract for packages at his business and home at a cost of $19,000. Lohnes paid $10,000more than half the amount.

The solar panels never arrived.

He put aside his embarrassment to speak with CBC as a warning to others.

"You just try to fix it for the next person, because if you don't say anything, then he just took advantage of the situation and he got away with it," said Lohnes.

Pincock has not returned calls

The CBC has called and emailed Pincock but there's been no response.

Pincock has been in the news before. In 2013, police said he was the alleged target of a murder-for-hire scheme. Prosecutors dropped all charges last year against the businessman accused of the plot.

Halifax Regional Police does not name people or companies under investigation for criminal activity. Nor does RCMP. But Halifax police said it is investigating a fraud complaint laid last November involving a company located at Purdy's Wharf on Upper Water Street. It also has a fraud complaint against that company, which also has a Dartmouth address.

'Worrisome pattern'

The Better Business Bureau for the Atlantic provinces has created an online record outlining three complaints and two unsatisfactory customer reviews about Werth Solar. One complaint went unanswered by Pincock, while another customer was unsatisfied with his response.

Based on a "worrisome pattern" and an underlying problem of delays that weren't fixed, the company received a D- rating from the organization, said the organization's CEO, Peter Moorhouse.

Still sunny on solar

Despite losing thousands of dollars, many customers who spoke to CBC cling to the dream ofharnessing the sun's power.

Landry borrowed money from his family to hire another company. That work was completed in March.

"It's pretty cool," he said about his system, which allows him to watch his kilowatt production. "Saving money means making money, in our opinion."