When I signed my contract with Achieve Renewable Energy LLC in 2018 to have them replace my home’s old oil-fueled central heating and electricity-fueled air conditioning systems with a geothermal system, there were not many or any reviews of Achieve Renewable Energy on Google or Yelp. So I went by the HeatSmart program of Concord, Carlisle, and Lincoln’s representations that they had vetted installers and selected Achieve Renewable Energy LLC as the best for us residents.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the HeatSmart program personnel assessed Achieve Renewable Energy LLC all that well as a geothermal system installer. After I signed the contract and paid a huge deposit to Achieve Renewable Energy LLC, their botched project became a homeowner’s nightmare. Once I realized the extent to which Achieve Renewable Energy bungled the project at our home and I was left with an inadequate, inefficient, and costly system in violation of building codes, I started looking into other customers’ experiences with Achieve Renewable Energy. What I found alarmed me. I really wish Larry Lessard’s and his company Achieve Renewable Energy’s other victims had been more public about their experiences. Had they lodged complaints with consumer protection agencies or posted reviews online, I might not have done business with Achieve Renewable Energy.
To let other consumers derive some benefit from my experience with Achieve Renewable Energy, I shared my experience in a number of ways. One of those ways was to post reviews of Achieve Renewable Energy online. My review on Yelp is still visible as of this writing. But I noticed that at a certain point in 2018 or 2019 another geothermal system customer’s critical review of Achieve Renewable Energy LLC appeared on Google for a while then mysteriously disappeared. And after my critical review of Achieve Renewable Energy had been on Google for a while, suddenly positive, enthusiastic reviews of Achieve Renewable Energy appeared on Google. And then—even though my review seemed compliant with Google’s policy—my review was mysteriously removed from public view with no explanation to me. The review still exists in my account. But as of this writing Google does not publicly display it. Only the positive reviews of Achieve Renewable Energy appear on Google right now. I find that intriguing.
Below is my review on Google of Achieve Renewable Energy LLC. As you can see, it was fact-based, not speculative—though now it is older than 8 months. And it is more informative than the other reviews currently publicly viewable on Google. But mine no longer appears publicly on Google anymore. Again, how intriguing.
8 months ago
Achieve Renewable Energy created a financial disaster for us and wasted countless hours of my time addressing their sloppy work. Their $60,000+ contract we signed in the first half of 2018 via the towns of Concord, Carlisle, and Lincoln's HeatSmart program promised their geothermal heating and cooling system would dramatically decrease our home's heating and cooling costs. But in addition to our discovering that the system has instead increased our heating costs, we have also had to endure:
• My messages ignored for days or weeks at a time.
• Achieve Renewable Energy leaving a dangerous open trench across our driveway for a week despite their previously stating in writing they must not leave the trench open.
• My discovering that their electrical work failed inspection several months ago and they never corrected it or informed me of that.
• Achieve Renewable Energy billing us several times for money we did not owe them despite my repeatedly correcting them.
• Their leaving our system with far less return air ductwork than supply air ductwork. (And they never obtained the sheet metal permit required by MA law for that duct work.)
When I informed Achieve Renewable Energy's director Larry Lessard that his geothermal system was using way too much electricity to heat our home his excuse was that our house was drafty. (The same house he himself examined before writing the proposal and contract for our project!)
The Massachusetts Clean Energy Center paid Achieve Renewable Energy a grant of over $14,000 to install this supposedly highly efficient geothermal system in our home. Yet Achieve Renewable Energy's design and installation was so poor that the system hasn't met the Clean Energy Center's published minimum requirements for system performance! After our town's Building Commissioner inspected Achieve Renewable Energy's botched work at our home in March 2019, he promptly sent them a cease and desist order by certified mail. And it wasn't just a cease and desist order applying to work at our home. He was so concerned by their work that he applied the cease and desist order to the entire town!
We face tens of thousands of dollars in costs to pay true professionals to fix this incompetent geothermal system installation, ductwork, and electrical work. Achieve Renewable Energy will have to compensate us for it. So far, though, they've just made a ridiculous offer of $3,000 plus the cost to insulate our house—which is already fully insulated! I originally posted this review in March 2019. They made that ridiculous settlement offer around that time. After exhausting other less expensive methods to resolve this, I had to file a lawsuit in superior court under the MA Consumer Protection Law. A year after I filed suit, they made an Offer Of Judgment (which would mean a court judgment in my favor). But again, the amount they offered as compensation was insufficient so I had to reject it. And this fiasco drags on, heading for trial.
1
Share