Solar Panel Scam in South Carolina? How to Cancel the Contract and Fight Back

A salesman knocked on your door and said your utility company sent him. Or that a government program would cover the panels. You signed the same day. Now you have a 25-year loan, an electric bill that never went away, and a company that stopped answering the phone.

This pattern repeats across South Carolina. The state Department of Consumer Affairs and the Office of Regulatory Staff have warned the public about misleading solar sales tactics — salespeople claiming utility affiliation, promising eliminated bills and automatic tax rebates that never materialize.

If this happened to you, the contract is not necessarily final. You have cancellation rights under federal and South Carolina law, and you can sue for the fraud.

The Most Common Solar Panel Scams in South Carolina

The schemes vary, but the playbook is consistent: a high-pressure pitch at your front door, big promises, and paperwork signed before you can think.

The utility-company impersonation. The salesperson claims to work with or be sent by your electric utility. No utility company in South Carolina installs, recommends, or endorses a specific solar company. Real utility employees make appointments and do not ask for payment or personal information at your door.

The fake government program. "Free solar panels through a government program." No government agency sends representatives door-to-door to sign homeowners up for solar. Tax credits exist, but they are credits you claim on your own return — not rebates the salesman delivers, and not everyone qualifies. Homeowners have been sold on a tax credit their income did not qualify for, then watched their loan payment balloon when the promised credit never arrived.

The disappearing electric bill. "You'll never pay an electric bill again." Then the panels underproduce, the system is undersized for the home, and the homeowner pays both the loan and the utility. Some buyers report signing for a system sized to cover only a fraction of their usage.

The loan you never agreed to. Homeowners report that a "free information" visit turned into a signed loan — tens of thousands of dollars over 20 to 25 years, sometimes initiated with an electronic signature the homeowner did not understand they were giving.

The ghost company. The panels underperform or damage the roof, and the installer is unreachable, out of business, or was only a sales outfit that subcontracted the work. The loan, however, survives. The lender keeps billing.

"Free Government Solar Program": The Door-to-Door Lie

Treat any door-to-door claim of a government solar program as false until proven otherwise. Federal tax incentives are claimed through your tax return — no salesperson hands them to you, and a salesman cannot guarantee you qualify. Anyone who says the government is paying for your panels, or that you were "selected" for a program, is misrepresenting the deal.

South Carolina regulators require solar sellers to give you a disclosure statement and a marketing pamphlet before you purchase. If the person at your door skipped the disclosures and went straight to the signature screen, that is a red flag — and potentially a violation you can use.

How to Cancel a Solar Contract in South Carolina

Two separate laws give you a short cancellation window after a door-to-door solar sale.

The FTC Cooling-Off Rule. Federal law (the FTC's Trade Regulation Rule Concerning Cooling-Off Period for Sales Made at Homes or Certain Other Locations) covers door-to-door sales over $25. The seller must tell you — orally and in writing — that you can cancel within three business days, and must give you two completed copies of a cancellation form. You do not need a reason. Once you send a valid cancellation, the seller has 10 business days to refund everything you paid, return any trade-in property, and cancel and return any security interest created by the sale.

South Carolina's home-solicitation law. S.C. Code §§ 37-2-501 and 37-2-502 of the South Carolina Consumer Protection Code regulate home solicitations — sales made through personal solicitation anywhere other than the merchant's place of business. You can cancel a home solicitation contract until midnight of the third business day after you sign, in writing. If the seller failed to give you the required notice of your cancellation right, the contract is not automatically void — but your right to cancel stays open: until the seller complies, you may cancel by notifying the seller in any manner (S.C. Code § 37-2-503(3)). One important limit: the home-solicitation law covers only “consumer credit sales” of goods or services, which the statute caps at an amount financed of $25,000 or less (S.C. Code § 37-2-104(1)(e)) — so whether this state-law cancellation right covers your deal depends on your specific facts, including how the purchase was financed. The federal Cooling-Off Rule described above has no such cap and applies regardless. To find out which cancellation rights apply to your deal — and act before the window closes — contact Traywick Law Offices right away.

Act fast and put it in writing. Send the cancellation by certified mail with return receipt, keep a copy of everything, and do not let the company talk you into "pausing" the cancellation while they "fix" the problem. The clock does not pause for their promises.

Missed the 3-Day Window? You Can Still Get Out of a Solar Contract

The three-day window is the easiest exit, not the only one.

Missing disclosures. If the seller never gave you the required cancellation notice or the state-mandated disclosure documents, the contract may be voidable even after the window closes. Review every page you signed — or that was signed for you.

Fraud and misrepresentation. A contract induced by lies — fake utility affiliation, a nonexistent government program, guaranteed savings that were never possible — can be rescinded for fraud. Save every text, email, and brochure. Write down exactly what the salesperson said, while you remember it.

Unlicensed salespeople and contract defects. Errors in dense solar contracts are common: wrong system specifications, missing signatures, terms that contradict what you were told. Any of these can support cancellation.

The cancellation-fee fight. Companies often demand a percentage-based cancellation fee — 15 percent, thousands of dollars — for work never performed. If no installation occurred and you were misled, dispute the fee in writing and do not pay it to make the problem go away. Threats to send a disputed fee to collections are pressure tactics; a disputed, unvalidated debt is contestable, and collectors who pursue it face debt collection defense claims.

If the company ignores a valid cancellation, escalate: file complaints with the South Carolina Department of Consumer Affairs, the South Carolina Attorney General, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for the financing.

The Solar Loan Trap: Payment Escalators, Hidden Fees, and UCC-1 Liens

The contract is only half the problem. The financing is the other half.

Solar loans in these cases are often tens of thousands of dollars over 20 to 25 years. Solar leases often include an annual payment escalator — your payment climbs every year while the promised savings do not. Many homeowners end up with the worst of both worlds: a monthly loan or lease payment plus an electric bill that barely dropped. Some loans are structured around the tax credit itself — low payments for the first 18 to 24 months while you are told to apply the "government kickback," then a payment that jumps by hundreds of dollars a month when no credit materializes.

Many solar loans are also secured by a UCC-1 fixture filing recorded against your home. That filing can complicate selling or refinancing the house — buyers and lenders see a lien-like encumbrance and demand it be resolved first. Before you sign anything to sell or refinance, find out whether a fixture filing is attached to your property.

The critical point: the lender is not automatically off the hook because the installer lied. Under the FTC's Holder Rule, 16 CFR Part 433, anyone who holds your consumer credit contract is subject to the claims and defenses you could assert against the seller. The FTC has confirmed this means you can raise the seller's fraud to defend against the lender's collection lawsuit — and in some circumstances bring an affirmative claim against the lender. Your recovery under the Holder Rule is capped at the amounts you already paid, which is why pairing it with state-law claims matters.

Solar Panels Not Working as Promised? What to Do

If the system is installed but underperforms — lower output than promised, panels that never worked, roof leaks from the installation — document everything before you call the company.

Pull your utility bills from before and after installation and compare. Photograph the equipment, the roof, and any damage. Request the system's production data. Get an independent solar contractor or roofer to assess the installation in writing if you can.

Then put your complaint in writing to the company and keep copies. Verbal complaints to a call center accomplish nothing. If the company blames you, blames the weather, or stops responding, that record becomes evidence — of breach of contract, breach of warranty, and deceptive practices.

South Carolina's Unfair Trade Practices Act: Treble Damages for Solar Fraud

South Carolina's Unfair Trade Practices Act, S.C. Code § 39-5-10 et seq., prohibits unfair or deceptive acts in consumer transactions — which is exactly what a fraudulent solar pitch is.

Under S.C. Code § 39-5-140(a), a consumer harmed by a deceptive practice can recover actual damages, costs, and attorney's fees. If the violation was willful — the seller knew or should have known its conduct was deceptive — the court must award three times your actual damages.

That treble-damages provision changes the economics of these cases. A $50,000 fraudulent solar loan is not just a $50,000 problem for the company. And because the statute provides attorney's fees to a winning consumer, these claims are viable even when the homeowner cannot afford to pay a lawyer hourly.

How a Lawyer Helps You Cancel a Fraudulent Solar Contract and Sue

Solar companies count on you giving up. Their contracts are long, their cancellation departments are slow, and their lenders keep auto-drafting your account while you argue. A lawyer reverses that dynamic.

Cancel the contract correctly. Whether you are inside the 3-day window or attacking the contract for missing disclosures and fraud, a lawyer sends the cancellation in the form the law requires, to the right parties — the installer and the lender — and creates a paper trail the company cannot ignore.

Stop the loan. The installer and the lender are often different companies pointing at each other. A lawyer asserts your fraud claims against both: the Holder Rule preserves your defenses against the finance company, and SCUTPA reaches the deceptive conduct behind the loan. The goal is not just to stop future payments but to unwind the deal.

Sue under SCUTPA. A consumer fraud claim seeks your actual damages — every dollar paid, the cost of removing or fixing the system, roof repairs — trebled if the deception was willful, plus attorney's fees. That fee provision means the company pays your lawyer when you win.

Handle the fallout. Disputed cancellation fees sent to collections, a UCC-1 fixture filing clouding your title, credit reporting of a debt you do not owe — a lawyer addresses each one, including debt collection defense where collectors overstep.

If a solar salesman lied to get your signature, you do not have to live with the contract. But every week you wait, you pay more into a deal built on deception — and cancellation deadlines keep running.

Talk to a South Carolina Solar Fraud Lawyer Before You Make Another Payment

Do not keep paying a solar loan for panels that were sold to you under false pretenses. Do not sign a cancellation-fee agreement or a "settlement" the company drafts. And do not assume the three-day window was your only chance — it wasn't.

Contact Traywick Law Offices for a free legal opinion. We cancel fraudulent solar contracts, take on the installers and the finance companies, and bring SCUTPA claims — with treble damages and attorney's fees — for South Carolina homeowners who were deceived at their own front doors.