How to get direct help from GivEnergy company in a problem

Hey, we have been customers of GivEnergy sine March 2023. We have solar panels and a battery linked to the Hybrid Inverter. It became clear to us that the system has not been working for the last three months. It appears that when we changed our WiFi supplier, it caused the problem. I have desperately tried to contact GivEnergy but there is no response. Phone calls just repeat the same message and they do not answer emails either. I am nearly 80 years old and have not the skills to set up these Wi-Fi issues. Please advise if anyone has any idea what to do. Thank you so much.

LKing I'm not sure how to progress this unless you can do some basic wifi changes. There is a common problem whereby when someone changes their internet supplier/get a new broadband router, then the wireless name and the wireless password changes. This is usually set to a default on the router that you get and it is possible to change these details from your computer. If you can, can you find the instructions on how to use your router? To resolve this you need you or someone to log onto the router itself (details should be with the documents you got when you got the router) and change the wifi name and password to what they were before. This should then allow the GE kit to reconnect to the network (as it is looking for that name and using that password to connect), but if your computer is connecting to the network wirelessly, then you will need to update these details on your computer as well so it too can connect using the revised details (if your computer connects to the router using a wire, then this step shouldn't be needed)

LKing Even without an internet connection your inverter and battery should still have continued working, charging the battery from solar and discharging it to your home to meet home demand.
Although in winter of course with much less solar you’ll not get the same benefits you had in the summer.

One option could be to get your original installer back to reconfigure your inverter to the new broadband details. They may of course charge you for that service.

Or maybe a family member can help you out? There is a good video on configuring wifi on the GivEnergy YouTube channel that walks through the steps to take

geoffreycoan One option could be to get your original installer back to reconfigure your inverter to the new broadband details. They may of course charge you for that service.

As an aside, I'm sort of in the "installer" position for a wifi/cctv/wired network I installed in the old house where the people who we sold the house to were rather elderly. I did a one-off install/configure (it was Ubiquiti) of apps and accounts for them about a month after we moved out (when they finally got broadband turned on) and it took hours. He's now contacted me nearly 4 years later saying they got a new TalkTalk (dear gods) router and nothing works (or possibly has a new phone, or both) and could I come round and sort it out for free.

Ummm no 🙂

Vestas Early xmas goodwill gesture???. Might get a mince pie

SteveCook No mate. Its 4 years since we moved out. If I go do "work" for "free" on a system I installed in my old house then what happens if something goes wrong? I don't even want to think about how to explain that to insurers - they'd just dump it on me.

LKing try your installer or a local PC support place/person if you can't do it yourself.

Vestas agree with you 100%. Nothing worse than people who want freebies/favours and then moan if things dont go quite to plan. They get what they pay for

This is a problem with all tech...

As we get older we just expect things to work. If I pop my clogs my wife is clueless and I am not sure there is anyone who can help her.

There is clearly a business model for an IT tech person to deal with these issues for the clueless...

I provided all tech support for my parents and tried to keep them from being scammed.

Mum signed up to fake DVLA website that charged her to remind her to tax the car. Legally they got away with it as they were providing a service.

My Dad signed up for several anti virus subscriptions and only needed one. I spotted duplicate payments going out and with negotiation I managed to stop that and while they wouldn't refund his money they extended his single subscription to 10 years to deal with the overpayment.

As homes become more technical people are going to struggle.

M_J There is clearly a business model for an IT tech person to deal with these issues for the clueless...

I'm afraid there isn't.

For a start you'd have to be DBS checked, you'd have to be insured to work in potentially vulnerable peoples' homes (which will require expensive training & recertification for the insurance to be valid) and every time anything untoward happens with any of your clients (they get scammed for instance) you'll be #1 on plod's hit parade because you're the easy option. If not plod then their family. Add to that clients who are potentially suffering early-stage dementia and you can get accused of all sorts of stuff.

Who wants that hassle for less take-home money than you'd get in Aldi?

Everyone and their dog has thought there was a viable market at one point or another and there simply isn't, not even consumer-focused companies like Currys do much other than installation/collection on/from site because its not possible to make sensible money. Consumers won't pay realistic hourly rates for IT* and elderly consumers certainly won't. Subscriptions would be a rip-off so if you can work out a way then I take my hat off to you 🙂

*they will for other stuff, sometimes, but never IT.

M_J I provided all tech support for my parents and tried to keep them from being scammed.

I do the same for my mother in law. She got caught with one of those fake ‘we just need to confirm your BT internet details’, clicked on the link, logged in with her BT password and email and that was that, her account was taken over.

We thought something was wrong when we got fake emails from her that just didn’t read right, and when my wife replied to one, she got an instant reply back, again not like the m-i-l. When finding out what had happened she was just “it’s OK, it’s only my email account”. They took over her account, changed the recovery details, sent out emails to all her contacts asking for “help buying a google play card for her nephew” and 4 of her contacts fell for it, bought the scratch cards and emailed “her” the codes.
It took hours and hours on chat services to BT to get the account recovered.

geoffreycoan Get a domain name and email hosting then you can provide her email which means you can reset passwords etc. Costs a few quid a month.

I've done this for decades for the family (I have a couple of domains which are my surname) and it proved useful with daughters/wife and lost/stolen mobile phones.

Just remember to secure the domain login with MFA.

Apologies to OP as we derailed his thread but this is probably the most helpful guide to avoiding scams I know -

https://www.thinkbroadband.com/assets/guides/scams/thinkbroadband-guide-to-online-scams-2024.pdf

Note that's a PDF.

Vestas Without wishing to derail the thread, I think there is a genuine problem/concern here, in that the equipment is tied to the current internet provider's router (effectively). What would be a better solution I think, would be that the kit providers communicate via the mobile network directly, thus cutting out the local set-up and removing the need to individuals to have to go through a lot of technical hoops to get kit back on-line again - especially as it can invalidate warranties etc.

CW Not really. Your way is a security nightmare 🙂

The ideal position would be that the end-user sets up a SSID which isn't the default one applied by the ISP.

This would also assist the end-user in remembering which SSID is theirs - not joking, this is the #1 support issue in some MDUs. It would definitely assist older users.

Then when they change provider they can set the same SSID/password and problem solved, everything connects again. Might take a reboot on some stuff.

Ideally ever inverter would be connected via network cable and people just need to plug it in to their new equipment. That would probably stop half of the "need help" threads on here.
It doesn't help that updating WiFi details on the dongle is a bit convoluted though.

For the OP, if you can change your WiFi network name (SSID) and password to the same as they were before as suggested that will almost certainly make your life easier, so long as you haven't already updated dozens of other devices around the house.

If that is not an option then you will need your new WiFi details and GivEnergy have support videos and guides available.

Once the system has been disconnected from the internet due to a change in WiFi/internet there isn't a great deal support could do to help you anyway.

Your new ISP may be able to help you change your WiFi details to match the old ones, or at least have guides, but you will of course need the old WiFi details before you go down that road. If you still have your old router and you never changed them, they may be written on the router - look for a label with SSID/network name and password.

LKing . I am nearly 80 years old and have not the skills to set up these Wi-Fi issues

You will need to ask a relative or the original installer to help you.

Or learn how to do it...

Sorry no magic IT wand...

pwdst If you still have your old router and you never changed them, they may be written on the router

If you still have the old router, you can just power it up. - the inverter will connect to it, then you can connect to the inverter and update the credentials.

DD that assumes that you are able to configure the old router to use an upstream network connection for the internet.

From past experience the GivEnergy app wasn't much good when they had an outage and I ended up relying on a third party app to control the inverter locally.

For Gen 1 equipment the dongle broadcasts its own network which should remain up even if the original wifi network disappears. The OP wouldn't need the old router to log on to that.

When I changed ISPs I dreaded having to get all my stuff re connected so instead just changed the SSID and password to the same as the previous one and voila, no issues.

Whereabouts in the country are you? If near me I will come and do it for you, or ask a friend or rel relative to do it for you.

pwdst that assumes that you are able to configure the old router to use an upstream network connection for the internet.

No... All you need is the WiFi AP - configuring inverter needs only local network.

We are in the process of changing our internet provider from BT. Our new provider could be Toob as they are offering full fibre (1Gb up a down) for a lot less than BT fibre 2. Lucky my solar system is connected via network cable so should not be an issue (hopefully). I do like the suggestion of changing the SSID.

Ortwin I do like the suggestion of changing the SSID.

TBH - regardless of any solar install, if you keep the SSID and pwd the same as routers change then all your wifi connected devices will continue to work (mobiles, laptops, tablets etc) - which makes for an easier life!

CW The only caveat to this is where you have (deliberately or not) IP reservations set up, as the new router won't know about them and won't carry them forward. So any home device that expects another home device to have a particular IP address (PC using a NAS maybe) may fail to connect to it. However, I would expect that most people that have IP reservations set up did so themself and therefore know how to set them up again on the new router.