Battery Dead - no response from Givenergy

Hi all, my 5kw gen1 battery died last August during a firmware upgrade. It is under warranty and I have not been able to get anywhere with Givenergy despite numerous promises to get back to me. I am at the end of the line, hence this post to see if anyone can advise me, or if anyone senior in Givenergy is listening.

• I have called technical support dozens of times over the last few months. I have spent hours and hours on hold (2 hours today alone). When i get through, they are knowledgeable guys but they were unable to fix it. They said its a hardware issue, the battery cells are faulty.
• An engineer visited last November and said the battery needed to be replaced, but he didn't have any spares with him. I am still waiting on a return visit.
• I raised a formal complaint with givenergy a few weeks ago and have had no response, not even an acknowledgement of my complaint
• I have tried to go through my installer under an RMA? process, but they say its a givenergy issue
• Givenergy has an office close by to where I live and I have offered to bring my faulty battery there to collect a replacement for me to install. (I am reasonably proficient at electrical work). But I have had no response.
• I wrote a review on Trustpilot 2 weeks ago (not something I have ever done) and it got an immediate response from givenergy with a promise of a follow up, but have heard nothing since.

Does anyone have any advice as to any other avenues I can explore?

Thank you,
Peter

I think your installer has responsibility to fix it as your contract is with them. They should replace the battery with a new one and chase GE to get their money back.

Normally I would say the installer is the first port of call, but because a Givenergy engineer has visited and messed with the installation, I think the installer has a right to say it is now GivEnergy's responsibility.

Personally, after 6 months I would bring out the big guns. Issue LBC with 28 days to fix, then engage MCOL.

Did you pay a deposit or any part of your bill with a credit card?

Thanks for the responses.

My system was installed in September 2021 (I paid in full by bank transfer) and I it worked well for almost 2 years. The panels and inverter are still working fine, just a dead battery for the last 6 months.

I really don't understand the poor customer service (absolutely zero contact), givenergy have admitted its faulty, it should be a simple replacement job. I know they are swamped but 6 months is pushing it.

Shame, if you paid CC you’d have had come back.

Have you tried posting on the GE Facebook groups,

On the portal what warranty date is shown for your inverter.
Presumably battery was installed then and will still be in warranty with GE.
Must be a case of getting Citizens Advice or a lawyer to just write a letter

Warranty expiry date on the portal is 26th August 2026.
I might try the small claims court.

pet1e I might try the small claims court.

Make sure you follow the correct procedures. If your claim is between £5000 and £10000, in the UK, the court fee is £455, which you simply lose if the pre action requirements aren't met.

Rubikcube
I would have thought a recorded delivery letter to GivEnergy setting out the problem, the fact that the battery is still in warranty and that if nothing is done PDQ then small claims court will be involved would solicit some action.
If not, I guess we are all up the creek with our warranties!

pet1e this is incredibly odd - if you can email into support@givenergy.co.uk and address fao Adam Reynolds on a new email thread with all your details I'll look into it with the relevant teams for you.

It sounds more like a systems/admin error over your case to be waiting this long with no contact at first guess as the field service team routinely each week provides an update (even if no update). So if you're not hearing anything it is very unusual.

If you can chuck that over to support I'll ensure it's personally investigated.

Thank you Adam, I have sent on the details. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Hi Adam-Reynolds can you please have a look at the email I sent last week to Givenergy support for your attention. The faulty battery was replaced 3 weeks ago and a new one wired up (thank you) but the installers for some reason didn't commission it to my system when they attended site. Hopefully it can be sorted remotely as all cabling looks OK, and I have called the support line a few times without any progress (they are saying its with senior management for review). Battery is powered off via side button at present as instructed by givenergy support until it could be looked at.
Thank you,
Peter

Just WOW, so you want to say after waiting 6 months for battery replacement, and then it was finally done, now you are waiting 3 weeks for someone to commission it? Crazy.

Sounds about right, the field team and general support from GivEnergy when my AIO bricked during a. Firmware update was completely shocking.

I’ve raised other issues with them like my warranty date being wrong on the portal and the installation date of my replacement battery being incorrect. They never bother to sort anything out, they’re just bad.

In the end I was calling them every day, just out of principle.

pet1e

Apologies you've not heard from the job control team following the repair. I'll speak to the manager that oversees that team for you tomorrow morning to provide an update with what's going on.

Hi @Adam-Reynolds , your field service manager contacted me last Friday and ran through some diagnostics to resolve the issue remotely. It turned out to be a simple issue in that the battery comms cable polarity was wired incorrectly by the installer, and once the wires were reversed the battery came to life. All is working good since then, thank you for your intervention.
Regards,
Peter

I've been waiting since 3 January for a response from GivEnergy after reporting my battery suddenly stopping working. I've emailed 6 times and have had no response from a human being, except two automated responses assigning two different ticket numbers. I have phoned the support line and spoken to an AI robot, who assured me that 'she' understood my concern, had marked it as urgent as I had requested, and someone would contact me very soon. Nobody has.

I have provided the diagnostic information from the system and have asked that they send an "Activate battery" command to my battery, which sounds a very easy thing for someone to do. Still no response.

Any ideas?!

Installed has now revised to PM or 4th of Feb for me.

Also sent quote for a 2nd battery:

It's a bit cold this evening, I've had to break out the other renewable energy/carbon neutral....