Seems obvious that this reporter had an axe to grind with the companies involved with her rooftop solar. A little surprising that so much of her personal experience is treated as "news" here but I guess Time can print whatever they want...even personal vendettas.
I had panels installed on my roof a few years ago and my experience has really been great. But I bought my panels with a loan. Regardless, my company was out within a week of my inverter going bad and replaced it. The sales guy contacts me regularly (annually?) to check how everything is going and if I need anything.
So don't take this article as "normal". It seems quite abnormal to me...in more ways than one.
Full disclosure: I happen to be a happy solar panel owner; though I had a tough time with the initial installation, the panels installed by Solarcity (now Tesla Energy) have been working properly since 2017 when we had them installed.