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Houston woman gets solar panels removed from home after 'free' deal wasn't as promised

Betty Blaylock called KHOU 11 for help after trying for more than a year to get the solar panels on the roof of her south Houston home removed.

HOUSTON — UPDATE: A homeowner in south Houston is getting solar panels on her roof removed after calling KHOU 11 for help.

The company, Sunrun, decided to remove the solar panels just one day after reporter Grace White reported on Betty Blaylock, 77, trying for more than a year to get the solar panels removed.

Blaylock claims the deal she was given wasn't as promised.

Last year, she told us she was in her front yard when two men approached her and asked about her electricity bill. 

"He said, 'Oh, you are paying too much,'" Blaylock said. 

They offered her a solution - solar panels. 

"He said they're free," she said. 

She agreed to let them put the panels up, but then bills came for hundreds of dollars. It's been added stress since losing her husband last year. 

"I was out of it you know," said Blaylock.

She tried calling the company, Sunrun, to request the panels be taken down. 

"I asked them so many times," she told us.

We called the company and a spokesman for Sunrun said the person who sold Blaylock the solar panels was not a Sunrun employee, but one of their partners. The company offered to remove the panels at no cost. 

Credit: KHOU

Here is the company's full statement, released to KHOU 11: 

"At Sunrun, we deeply value each of our customers. We treat all allegations of misrepresentation with the utmost seriousness and conduct thorough investigations to be the industry leader on customer experience and ethics.

It's important to clarify that the sales representative involved in this matter is not a Sunrun employee. In addition to in-house sales representatives, Sunrun has an experienced Partner network that has access to our products and services. We require all our Partners to adhere to our strict code of conduct and high standards. In this instance, the sales representative misrepresented our offerings. We swiftly removed their access to our products and requested for the Partner to take appropriate disciplinary action.

We want to make this situation right for Ms. Blaylock. We offered to waive all future payments and related costs for the installed solar system. However, Ms. Blaylock politely declined our offer and requested the termination and removal of the solar system, which we have agreed to fulfill at no cost."

If you have a problem and need help, email GraceCanHelp@khou.com, call (713) 521-HELP or fill out the form below.

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