Solar Panel Defect Update

[SMITH]

Reported earlier about brass plated steel grommets having been used on a Nature Power solar panel, and rusting soon after installation.  Bought mine from WEST Marine.  After receiving my complaint, in lieu of paying the yard bill to R&R the hard mounted and hard wired panel, Nature Power both replaced my rusting 5 watt unit, and sent me a new 25 watter for my trouble, along with a voltage controller.  The cheap brass plated grommets were missing from the new solar panels.  In their place are, what I believe to be anodized aluminum grommets, a much better choice.  In a phone conversation with their president, he blamed the defective grommets on a Chinese factory that assembled them.

These solar panels are manufactured in Germany, shipped to China to be assembled, then boxed and shipped to the US for distribution.  It's a shame that a product ostensibly made to conserve our environment has to have such a huge carbon footprint.  Hope to have the old one on its way back to Nature Power next week, and get the new one installed by Spring.  While their product was of low quality, and those cheap fasteners will ultimately cost me three to four hours dealing with the swap out, I must say I was impressed by Nature Power's response to my complaint.
SMITH