In one of the solar panel closed Facebook groups, a member recently asked for help in a matter that can be a nightmare for many. In the case of solar systems, the panels are usually purchased designed for a very long time, the manufacturers typically promise in their communications that their products will still operate at 80-90 percent of the nominal capacity in 20-25 years. (Inverters, which are the central element of the system, usually last much less than this, but their manufacturers do not promise otherwise.)
However, our complainant, whom we shall call Péter, noticed three years after the installation that the performance of one of the 32 panels on the roof of his house had decreased. Not long after, the production of five more panels fell, then two more, and two more fell in the next few days, so in total, almost a third of the entire system is not producing the expected performance.
Péter did not use state support during the construction, that is, he paid for the system entirely out of his own pocket, and with such a decline in production, the return on his investment is postponed for many years. He also told us that the roof is not shaded by anything, that the loss of capacity is not due to the clouds moving across the sky, and that the panels in question were not dirty. He also took thermal camera images, which show that some cells of the solar panels are defective.
The installer was a smaller Hungarian company, which, according to the company court data, essentially only operated in 2022, when it achieved sales revenue of HUF 346 million, and then soon went into liquidation. By the way, at the time, many smaller businesses like this survived on the market, since we were there before the Orbán government unexpectedly and without professional consultations, essentially killed the residential solar market overnight by changing the accounting system for the surplus solar energy produced (not consumed locally). So at that time, it was not necessarily possible to see that a company with an annual turnover of 350 million would disappear into the sinkhole, in fact, it was more likely to think that many start-ups could set foot in a rising market.
The legislation requires sellers to have a three-year warranty for goods purchased over HUF 250,000, so Péter could still have fit in the time if the installation company had not ceased to exist.
“It is interesting, by the way, that the 2004 law regulating warranties applicable to housing construction requires a warranty period of up to 10-15 years for many construction elements, but solar panels designed for at least 25 years of use, but rather more, are not included in this scope, i.e. they are considered a regular market product-equipment,” says Máté Siklósi, CP Contact’s consumer protection expert.
Because of this, Péter actually ran out of time, but he did what the laws and common sense dictate, he tried to reach the manufacturer of the product with his complaint. Since the company does not have an office in Hungary, it is forced to correspond with the Chinese customer service – for ten months, with little success. First, they asked him to take a photo of the bar code of the panels, and then they told him that according to their records, the products were still fine in the post-production test, but they couldn’t get more than that, only templated reply letters were coming from China.
Péter also approached domestic companies dealing with solar panel installation, but they also turned him down, he says that according to his experience, no one wants to deal with fixing errors in systems installed by others.
According to Máté Siklósi, there is no other option than to continuously maintain the complaint with the Chinese manufacturer, arguing that the company will lose a lot of its reputation here if it does not help. The expert says that in addition to the three-year Hungarian rule for warranty, the manufacturer can also give a longer warranty or warranty period. In our case, the Chinese company wrote a 12-year “product warranty”, which means a 12-year accessory warranty.
In this case, the buyer can assert his rights (even if the 12-year claim is only a marketing element) if he proves that the defect is of manufacturing origin. To do this, you can get an expert opinion, ideally from a forensic expert, which you can send to the Chinese company and request a replacement.
“At the same time, it must be seen that it is more difficult to negotiate with a manufacturer outside the EU, and it is also more difficult to implement a conciliation board or court decision”
says Máté Siklósi.
The case is also instructive because e-commerce platforms that not only do not have a Hungarian reseller, but even the manufacturer of the product is only at the far end of the sales chain are becoming more and more popular in Hungary. The platforms only connect non-EU manufacturers-traders with Hungarian customers. You have to get used to the fact that, no matter how reliable the platform providers are, they are not the sellers, that is, when making purchases, you have to take the risk that in the event of a problem, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to enforce the warranty.
