About 4 years ago, I bought a bunch of solar power related equipment from The altE Store. This equipment included everything I needed for two complete and independent systems: photovoltaic (“solar”) panels, racking systems, junction and breaker boxes, charge controllers, AC inverters, roughly 1000 pounds of LFP batteries (two different kinds – more on that in a minute), and a bunch of accessories. At the time, my sales rep was competent, understood my needs and helped me put together systems that made sense for my situation and budget. So far, so good.
Over the intervening years, I’ve had little need for tech support, but when I did, by and large I got where I needed to go, though rarely as efficiently as I would hope. But okay, it got done.
Before I get into the gory details surrounding the Worst Tech Support Experience Ever, I need to explain that my two systems have different batteries. The home system has passive batteries — just LFP cells in a box — nothing more. The workshop system has “smart” batteries – LFP cells in a box with a little computer that monitors them, a display that shows approximate energy remaining (a “fuel gauge”), and WiFi connectivity that lets me check their state remotely (kind of useful) and provides for firmware updates from the manufacturer when needed. It’s also important to know that the workshop system grew over time, starting with one battery module, then two, then finally three. The third (newest) one is a slightly different model than the prior two, as the manufacturer evolved their design. The last critical bit of context is that all three units have a data connection between them so they may coordinate charge/discharge to keep the system balanced as well as provide some additional safety features. One battery module must be designated the group leader and it is recommended that in all cases, the very newest of any set should be the leader. And that’s exactly how my set of three were configured and had been operating perfectly for about a year as a set of three.
Over the course of the 2 years operating these smart batteries, there had never been an update, as far as I knew. Then, on Dec 29, 2023, the mobile app announced that an update was pending. I acknowledged the update, which interestingly only applied to the newest unit. Okay, that’s fine, that unit is a little different from the older ones, so it’s rational that an update might not apply to them equally. Immediately following the update, however, the updated battery, which was the leader, began to malfunction. Its display was erratic and it became clear that it did not charge/discharge in a balanced way with the other units in the system. Naturally, I write to tech support immediately.
The tech support guy seemingly does not understand the problem, as he asks me to do some things that I believe are unlikely to have any curative effects and do not yield any diagnostic results. One thing he asks me to do happens to be especially inconvenient for me to perform, so before I agree to do it, I ask him plainly what he hopes to learn/fix from what he’s asked me to do. He does not even acknowledge my question, let alone answer it. We go back and forth a little bit after that, including one where he literally tells me he is out of ideas (translation: has given up on my case and offers no further avenue to resolution). Even so, there are a few more exchanges, at which point he abruptly stops responding to my emails. I have been nothing but polite and respectful in my language, despite my mounting frustration with his inability to make headway on the issue. . . so I am baffled as to why he would simply ghost me like that. After two full weeks elapse, I call the battery manufacturer’s (KiloVault) help line. No answer. I leave a message. One business day elapses, no response. Now I call the vendor’s (The altE Store) help line. Note that KiloVault appears to be a wholly owned subsidiary/division — KiloVault tech support requests are processed by altE staff and they share a physical address. I tell the altE receptionist that tech support has stopped responding and may I please speak with someone who cares. The receptionist connects me with… the same guy I’d been talking to by email before!
He is pleasant enough on the phone, however, so I don’t get the sense that his silence was personal. I asked him what happened about that and he said simply that the system had marked my case as closed. Whut? That’s ridiculous, since there had been no resolution and surely my subsequent emails had to go somewhere, if nothing else, motivating a response of some kind. But okay, here we are. He assures me the ticket is re-opened and spends some time as I wait on the phone as he tells me he’s looking into some details behind the scenes. He tells me that there are updates he can push to my batteries (including the older ones, which of course raises the question why were they not updated previously?) and that someone else will be taking over my case.
The next day, I see that the updates were indeed pushed but there is no improvement in performance. I write to the tech support thread with detailed observations. Three full business days elapse with no responnse from tech support – either the guy I was talking with nor the guy he said would be taking over my case.
I write a sternly worded letter to altE complaining of how poorly this has gone and asking that they escalate the case to someone competent, since the person I was working with before clearly can’t/won’t get the job done.
Shortly after they receive the letter, I get an email from a new contact at tech support – the same fellow the first guy said would be taking over my case. He says the first guy is “no longer on the team” — I don’t know if that means he was fired, is simply off my case, or quit. I also don’t care. The new guy says he’s committed to solving the problem promptly and will review my case history and speak with me thereafter.
When he does reach out, he gets my name wrong (how could he, it’s all over the thread), and asks for the serial numbers of my units. This information is already in the case history (so much for reading it) as well as online in their registration database. I’m not encouraged. I reply with the serials.
He comes back mis-identifying which units are in what state and says he will push new updates. I reply correcting him about which are which.
A few days go by – no updates.
He eventually writes to me “we have re-installed the firmware on all your batteries”. Well, that’s encouraging. Except nothing has changed – the newest unit is still malfunctioning.
Next he asks me to do something very much like what the first guy asked me to do (balancing the charge in the batteries) — which is disrutpive and inconvenient and costs me time and money to perform. I also recognize that this request is misguided – the fact that the system is not charging/discharging together is not due to the batteries being out of balance. It’s clear to me that the problem is that the leader isn’t properly leading. This is a data problem, not an energy management problem. But he’s asking me to balance the system. Okay, fine. I’ll do it if that means we can get past this useless step and on to whatever is next. His request is to perform the balancing step on just the first battery. I point out that this is disruptive and inconvenient so if there’s anything to be done after that (such as balancing the rest of them), to please tell me in advance, so I can just get all the disruptive stuff done at once. He does not acknowledge the question.
I perform the limited operation he requested and report back that nothing has changed (as expected).
He the asks me to perform the operation on the next battery. I HAD ASKED HIM WHAT WAS NEXT and he didn’t say anything. Now he’s asking me to do exactly what I expected he would, but didn’t do because I didn’t want to stray from his script since clearly he was attached to following a protocol. I am irritated that he is causing me more work and disruption than necessary and I tell him so (politely, but firmly). I also actually do perform the process he asked for, on all the batteries, and report back (nothing is better, exactly what I expected because this isn’t the right avenue for the problem).
No reply since. He, too, just ghosted me. So much for being committed to solving the problem.
Along the way, I did mention to both tech support contacts that I am a professional firmware engineer who happens to have advanced technical diagnostic tools that I’m happy to employ to help them diagnose the issue remotely. Neither of them acknowledged my offer. I have actually omitted a number of other intermediate steps, corrections, and unanswered questions from this telling, to keep the story from getting even more tedious. The whole saga took over 2 months!
I send another letter, this time demanding replacement of the unit and threatening legal action if they suggest any other course. I feel I have a case since they broke my unit with their update.
When they get the letter, I get a new email. This time from a clerk in the operations department, asking me to send in the malfunctioning unit for evaluation and possible replacement. Progress, I suppose, but here are the two problems with what she asked, which I include in my response to her: first, this thing weighs 230 pounds and requires special packaing and hazmat paperwork to be shipped. Second, why should I pay hundreds of dollars for truck freight to send this thing back when they broke it? Lastly, I mention that I’ve spent over $30,000 at their store in the last few years and surely, considering how terribly “tech support” (which has been neither technical nor supportive) has treated me in the prior 8 weeks, they should definitely be paying for shipping. And send me an empty crate.
A few days go by and I get another email. Good news, she says, they have “found” a new unit they can send to me, at no charge, and I can send the old one back in that crate once I’m happy the new one works. Finally, something reasonably likely to solve the problem.
The solution is not guaranteed, though. If the updated firmware really can’t talk to the older units, another new unit with the same firmware isn’t going to be better. But if it was something in the update process that corrupted the system, sure, it’s possible that a clean one will work.
The battery comes and, to my delight, actually appears to be functioning normally. This suggests to me that the most likely problem was that the update simply failed somehow. I report back to the ops person that things are going well but I’d like a few more days to observe it to be sure, before sending the old one back. She replies that they don’t want the old one back!
Well… now I’m faced with 230# of LFP batteries that need to be disposed of, at my expense, adding insult to insult. I have noticed that this model is no longer offered for sale and indeed, the whole line seems to have been abandoned… so maybe they’d be willing to let me try wipe and manually install the firmware on the malfunctioning one. I mean, this is exactly the kind of work I do for a living. I’m a firmware engineer. Wiping and re-flashing the image is easy if you have the right tools and data. It’s a longshot, but is worth a minute to ask for it, so I do.
A few days go by and I get an email from someone in the c-suite that explains why they didn’t want the old one back (not cost effective to refurbish it) but that he’d be willing to sell me a new control computer that I could attempt to install myself, for $50. No support, no warranty, but if I wanted to take my chances, it’s $50. Convinced that the problem is only in the firmware and that a new controller would be an inconvenient but effective way to put new firmware into the box, I accept the offer and ask him to confirm that this would be a pre-programmed controller board and seek direction for completing the purchase. He replies, “I take it back – we won’t sell you the controller. Good luck with your project”. WTF? He offers no explanation — business reasons, stock reasons, wasn’t actually authorized to make the offer, whatever else — nothing. He just closes the door as quickly as he opened it.
I am deeply disappointed, thinking that for a moment there I had a chance to actually bring this unit back to service. I mean, it’s only used maybe 10% of its nominal in-service life. Scrapping it is a huge waste, even if it doesn’t make business sense for the manufacturer to take it back. I compose a reply describing how this is just another in a long line of deep disappointments from his company, but realize that it’s already clear he doesn’t/they don’t care, so such a letter would bring no benefit. I discard the draft.
And that’s where it landed. Two months spent with two tech support people, neither of whom seemed to really understand the problem and both of whom literally abandoned the case before resolution, without explanation or apology. One new unit is finally at hand which does seem to work, so in that sense, things are resolved, but I’ve also got this prior unit that is heavy and hard to dispose of that is now my problem to do something about. And a c-suite contacct who made an attractive offer and then rescinded it abruptly without explanation.
There you have it, the very worst tech support experience I’ve ever had.
Needless to say, altE has lost my business, my respect, and will certainly no longer be the recipient of my endorsement when people ask me about my off-grid systems. I have also disabled the WiFi connection on all three in-service units, so it is not possible for them to be “updated” again.