SMA America Elevates Technical Support with New Service Center

Jan. 11, 2011 - PRLog -- ROCKLIN, Calif.—SMA America has unveiled its new Service Center, which now provides faster, easier technical support via the phone, Internet and on-site in the U.S. and Canada. Service Center representatives help customers every step of the way by assisting with SMA products in all phases of the installation. Located in Rocklin, the Service Center is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST and can be reached by calling 1-877-My-SMATech.

“With the new Service Center, we can better assist our fast-growing customer base while shortening response times, thereby further elevating the technical support experience,” said Jurgen Krehnke, president and general manager of SMA America. “With these added capabilities, SMA is proud to expand upon what’s already viewed as best-in-class service.”

For assistance with SMA’s Sunny Boy and Sunny Island inverters, customers can call the Service Line (1-877-My-SMATech), which is staffed by trained technical service representatives. These experts help troubleshoot installation obstacles; provide operation and fault analysis; offer advice on the use of SMA’s communication hardware and software; and much more.

To aid the representatives with these tasks, the Service Center employs a PV simulator and an inverter laboratory. The simulator features working Sunny Boy inverters as well as communication and monitoring systems to help simulate problems described by callers. Meanwhile, the lab boasts a full Sunny Island off-grid system, complete with six Sunny Island inverters, multicluster box, generator and battery bank. There also are working Sunny Boy and Sunny Central inverters, and a webcam for live support. Representatives can also log in to the customer’s SMA Sunny WebBox to diagnose and fix problems remotely.    

Perhaps best of all, each call received by the Service Center is answered by a live person, with Sunny PRO Club members receiving priority service. Technical service representatives also can be reached via email at Service@SMA-America.com.

For its Sunny Central inverters, SMA provides on-site service including commissioning, optimization and troubleshooting. Field service engineers are located throughout the U.S. and in Canada for timely response and assistance, and an industry-leading 99 percent uptime guarantee and extended warranty programs are also available.

In the unlikely event that a Sunny Boy or Sunny Island inverter needs to be physically assessed by a technician, customers receive help from SMA America’s Repair Center, located within the Service Center. Usually within less than 24 hours of receiving a request, a replacement inverter is shipped to the customer, minimizing downtime while the original Sunny Boy or Sunny Island is then sent to SMA for inspection.

About SMA
The SMA Group generated sales of EUR 934 million in 2009 and is the worldwide market leader for photovoltaic inverters, a key component of all solar power plants. It is headquartered in Niestetal, near Kassel, Germany, and is represented on four continents by 15 foreign subsidiaries. The Group employs a staff of over 5,000 (incl. temporary workers). SMA’s product portfolio includes the most comprehensive range of inverters on the market, offering a compatible inverter for every type of photovoltaic module and for all plant sizes. The product range covers both inverters for photovoltaic plants connected to the grid as well as inverters for off-grid systems. Since 2008, the Group’s parent company SMA Solar Technology AG has been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (S92) and also in the TecDAX index. In recent years, SMA has received numerous awards for its excellence as an employer. www.SMA-America.com

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SMA America—a subsidiary of SMA Solar Technology AG, headquartered in Germany—provides North America with the world’s finest inverter, control and monitoring products for renewable energy sources, primarily solar.