UPDATE: Contact7 received a call back from Stellar Roofing and Solar. A representative explained the company Reborne Solarwas also involved in the project and that Stellar was hired as the installer.
Stellar said the Gallegos family made the decision to cancel the project close to the date they were supposed to begin the installation. Stellar said the contract had a cancellation clause invoice for $13,000.
Stellar explained that the $33,000 in question from the Gallegoses came from the down payment on the project that would have totaled to around $75,000-78,000.
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BLACK HAWK, Colo. -- A Black Hawk couple is out $10,000 because of a solar panel project, they say. The couple reached out to Contact7 to try to get answers about what to do next.
“Last year in November we contracted for a solar project,” said Black Hawk resident Clare Gallegos.
Clare and her husband, Danny, hired a contractor, Stellar Roofing and Solar, and waited for the project to begin. They said that never happened.
“We got scammed on our bank accounts,” said Clare.
The contractor turned in a certificate of completion to the bank saying the project was finished, with electronic signatures the Gallegoses said they never signed.
“We never knew anything about it until the bank called,” said Clare.
One of the banks gave the contractor $10,000 and now the Gallegoses have to foot that bill for a project that never began.
“I just cried because I couldn't believe that somebody could be that dishonest,” said Clare.
Another bank was involved in providing the contractor with $23,000, but that bank had written off the amount.
“We are too trusting. I feel really foolish for believing in this company,” said Clare.
She has been collecting a paper trail through the process. Clare said three-to-five other homeowners have voiced having problems with solar panel projects. Clare said one of them has filed a civil lawsuit.
“It’s really, really horrific,” said Clare. “I wake up thinking about this solar project – what is going on, how are we going to pay for this, how are we going to get this guy from doing this to other people.”
Clare and Danny were able to hire another company to complete the solar panel project. They now have 64 solar panels on the roof of their home. However, because of the first scam, their loan was denied and $10,000 in work that never happened continues to linger.
“We are moving along forward because we have to but we don’t know what the next step is,” said Clare.
Contact7 has reached out to Stellar Roofing and Solar multiple times for a comment, but we have not heard back.
