Horizon Solar Power Reviews Depend on Who You Ask

If you live in southern California, you’re in the perfect place for solar. High electricity bills, sunny skies, and dozens of installers to choose from. If you've got a few companies on your shortlist, you need to know what actual customers are saying about them. Today, we're taking a look at Horizon Solar Power Reviews.

This home-grown SoCal company, founded in 2008, installs both residential and commercial installations and offers cash, loan, and lease financing. Let's analyze what actual customers say about the company and find out why homeowners end up choosing - and not choosing - to move forward with this company.

To start off, let’s take a gander at Horizon’s overall review score on three different platforms. These review numbers are accurate as of October, 2017.

Yelp (1.5 out of 5 stars, based on 103 reviews)

On Yelp, Horizon Solar Power sees an atrocious 1.5 out of 5 stars, based on a decent chunk of reviews. Almost exclusively, reviewers consistently complain of sleazy, unprofessional sales tactics. In fact, many reviewers found their door-to-door sales tactics so appalling that they reviewed the company without even actually installing with them.

With this in mind, based solely on Yelp, we can’t logically conclude the company provides unprofessional service throughout the installation process, but we do see that their salespeople – as a whole – leave a lot to be desired.​

SolarReviews (4.55 out of 5 stars, based on 145 reviews)

At first glance, you’re probably extremely confused. I mean, how can a company have a 1.5 star rating on one site, and 4.55 stars on another? The 145 users who reviewed Horizon Solar Power on SolarReviews consistently praise the company for their salespeople, easy installation, and professionalism.

What the heck is going on, you ask? Consider 2 facts:

First, SolarReviews allows installers to solicit reviews from previous customers. Obviously, companies would never solicit reviews from angry customers, so review scores on SolarReviews are skewed towards being overly positive.

Secondly, on Yelp anyone can leave a review, whether they end up working with the company or not. However, to leave a review on SolarReviews, you must have installed your system with the company. So the homeowners who left reviews for Horizon Solar on SolarReviews actually went through with the entire installation process.

Where are all the negative comments on their sales staff? Well, would you move forward with a project if you’re accosted by a sleazy salesperson? Absolutely not! Horizon is a large company with presumably more than a few people on its sales staff. Some salespeople are great. Others aren’t.

Homeowners who have run-ins with terrible salespeople don’t move forward and then complain on Yelp. Homeowners with great salespeople move forward and seem to have a great installation experience.

In fact, on SolarReviews allows user to leave scores for each facet of the solar installation, and Horizon enjoys high marks across the board. Here’s a smattering of their scores:

• Sales Process: 4.63 out of 5
• Quality of Advice: 4.63 out of 5
• On Schedule: 4.57 out of 5
• Professionalism: 4.67 out of 5

Horizon is digging themselves out of the hole they dug on Yelp, but their high score on SolarReviews is likely from customers they've 'prescreened' and requested to leave reviews. Let’s check one more site to hear from even more customers before making a recommendation.

​Best Company (4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 178 reviews)

Like Yelp, Best Company allows users to leave reviews of installers even if the customers haven’t actually installed their system with them (though reviewers must be members of the website). Even still, 187 Best Company users gave Horizon 4 out of 5 stars.

Compliments and complaints follow the general trends set forth above. Some customers have great experiences, while others have poor salespeople or inconsistent communication throughout the installation.

#2 Analysis of Horizon Solar Power Reviews

When we take a step back and look at the reviews as a whole, we see a company that can provide outstanding installation experiences, from the initial sales call to boots-on-the-roof and post-installation inspections.

However, we also see a company that is burdened by untrustworthy salespeople and untoward sales tactics. If you’re working with a salesperson that comes recommended from a personal acquaintance, you’re likely in the clear. But judging from the reviews, it wouldn’t be wise to trust Horizon sales staff that come knocking at your door.

#3 Common Horizon Solar Power Compliments

Of the reviewers who gave Horizon high marks, compliments typically fall around the company’s easy-going and knowledgeable salespeople and the professionalism of the installers and project managers.

Here’s Brigitta on Best Company praising her salesperson:

And Garrik on SolarReviews giving Horizon 5 stars for an overall good experience:

And one more review, again on SolarReviews, praising Horizon’s overall process:

#4 Common Horizon Solar Power Complaints

Of course, there are negatives as well. First, let’s start with the sales staff.

Here’s Chris, a 3 year veteran in the solar industry, on Yelp discussing his run-in with Horizon’s door-to-door salespeople:

It’s no secret that solar companies make more money on leases, but JE on Yelp had a particularly bad experience when she wanted to purchase in cash:

Here’s one last unfortunate sales story, this time from Michelle after saying no to a door-to-door salesperson twice already:

Beyond sales, other customers complain of poor communication between company and customer as well as between departments.

Here’s Ruben on Best Company:

And Jay on SolarReviews, again discussing the poor customer service: