Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices

Purpose: EverBright is fully committed to ensuring that neither it nor its service providers engage in acts or practices in their interactions with consumers that may considered as unfair, deceptive, or abusive.

Background:

A customer complaint includes an allegation of false, misleading, or unfair trade practices, including misrepresentations by their installer/salesperson gave them misinformation regarding their contract, etc. The support agent has followed the Escalations SOP, documented the interaction, and transferred the issue to the resolution specialist. This SOP outlines the process for investigating and resolving the issue.

Examples of false, misleading, or unfair trade practices:

• Salesperson is alleged to have made unapproved or misleading statements during the sales presentation.

  • Statements that systems are “free,” “no cost,” or “$0” in oral or written marketing or sales discussions.

  • Statements or suggestions that the customer will no longer receive a utility bill or have a $0 or “negative” electric bill after going solar.

  • Misrepresenting that customers will be eligible for the Federal Tax Credit.

  • Misrepresenting and omitting material information about the characteristics of the solar systems and information related to the financing agreement.

  • knowingly misrepresenting facts

• Salesperson engaged in sales presentations to individuals whom, due to intellectual or linguistic challenges, the salesperson knew or should have known were unable to make informed decisions as to whether to enter into a retail installment contract, lease, or power purchase agreement (PPA).

• Salesperson signed, or knowingly allowed an unauthorized third party to sign, the customer contract.

• Allowing deceased, absent, or otherwise uninvolved parties to sign a contract.

• Falsified PTO letters

• Customer claims they did not provide credit consent.

Investigate the Claim

If an allegation of false, misleading, or unfair trade practices is presented, the resolution specialist will:

• Communicate with the customer about the claim:

  • Share in their frustration, but do not apologize or accept blame. (e.g., “I understand you must be frustrated” instead of “I’m so sorry this is happening”)

  • Do not place blame on the installer or salesperson. Simply state that you are going to be looking into this and working with the installer and your internal team.

  • Make sure that the customer understands that we are the financier and not the installer (but we will help them when dealing with an installer issue)

• Get a detailed account of the customer’s claim.

  • Ask the customer to share any evidence they have, including:

    • Email, text, or other communications with the installer/salesperson or other parties

    • Supporting documentation such as additional contracts with the installer/salesperson or other parties

• Gather all prior communications with the customer.

• Gather corroborating evidence to validate the claim (may include):

  • Review the contract documents in DocuSign and compare:

    • Email addresses for signers

      • Check DocuSign certificate.

        • Note if the email address used for salesperson matches customers.

    • IP addresses for signers

      • Check DocuSign certificate.

        • Note if the IP address for the homeowner is different than the one used for the salesperson.

  • Listen to the Welcome Call

    • Note any red flags.

    • Compare the voice on the welcome call to other voice communications with the customer.

      • If questionable, download the calls for further review.

  • Google the customer if there is any question that the homeowner does not tie to the property.

  • Reach out to the customer to determine if the system is operational when necessary.

Escalation to Compliance

• The complaint needs to be escalated for proper handling unless one of the following applies:

  • The customer did not provide enough information.

  • EverBright already fulfilled its obligation and there is no new information.

• Immediately notify Compliance according to the Compliance Escalation SOParchived

  • Present all data collected from the initial investigation.

    • Compliance will decide if the user’s access will be temporarily removed pending further investigation.

    • Compliance will determine what outreach objectives are required, if any.

The agent should create a ticket and tag the ticket by using the label ‘Promises’ so that these complaints are tracked.

Open