I was sold what I thought was a whole house water "purification" system in February for $6990, just after I and my wife had bought our house. We submitted to the hounding phone calls for an "in-house water test" and it turned out to be a big mistake. What we thought would be a brief water quality test (with the promise of a $50 gift card) turned out to be a 4 hour long sales pitch (yes, 4 hours).
My complaint involves 3 particular aspects of the company and/or the product: Sales practices, billing explanation, and product quality. Unfortunately, the part of the contract about oral agreements being null and void makes my case a difficult one to remedy. Yet, the entire sales pitch was "oral", right? Does that mean they can tell you whatever they want to get you to sign on the dotted line? Apparently it does.
Sales Practices
Our salesman told us several lies that were intended to achieve a sale, such as how we should be concerned about all the cow and animal manure that has seeped into the groundwater over the years, and how "more bubbles in soap means it's cleaning better". Among other "tricks" were the soap rinse, in which I was told that the oily feeling of softened water was due to the natural oils in the skin being left on the hand instead of washed away by typical city water, and also in which I tasted my fingers after rinsing soap in treated water first (left hand), then in city water (right hand). The taste of soap is not detected immediately, and is detected by the tongue just after tasting the second hand (right hand, untreated water) so that it seems that the soapy taste came from the right hand, when in fact it is the delayed reaction from the first hand (left hand, treated water). These tricks are things of which more people should be made aware, especially new home buyers, which the water company (ies) seem to target.
Another part of the selling practices that we fell victim to were the "promotional items".included with the sale were 4 boxes of soaps and detergents, all medical grade (or so we were told). The value of these was about $225-$250. Also included was a Dom DeLouise (sp?) baking set, which were high quality pots and pans. We were told that there is a lifetime replacement warranty on them. We have yet to verify that, although we do have a broken pot. The value of these was about $125-$150. The big thorn that got us, however, was the coupon booklet scam. Two small booklets of coupons, which we were told were for refunds, not rebates (big lie) were valued at $1000 each. After registering with the 3rd party for the coupon system (something we couldn't have done before the sale), we soon learned that it would take a family of 4 people ten years or more to see the savings promised, since each set of coupon requests must be mailed with only 1 voucher and a $2 processing fee, for which an equivalent value of coupons are sent back. This means you must buy more to make up for that $2 processing fee. With 100 vouchers in each of 2 books, requiring $2 each in processing fee, that comes to $400 in customer-provided (reimbursed) coupons. Assuming 25% savings for each coupon on average, that totals roughly $1600 in grocery purchases that must be made to compensate for the $2 processing fees over the entire course of use. Coupons can be clipped from the local Sunday paper and used for free, so there is absolutely no advantage to the promotional coupon books, although it is made to seem that you'll save $2000 by using them (partially true, I concede, but very misleading). Add to this the cost of postage @ $0.39 each and that tacks on another $78, negligible in comparison.
Billing Explanation
Unless you are a banker, loan officer, or familiar with financing options, the "revolving line of credit" may be a foreign term, as it was for us. We were told that the 3rd party financing the loan would not charge interest during the deferrment period of 8 months. There was NO INDICATION OF AN AMOUNT OF ACCRUING INTEREST during this period, in which we did recieve statements. There was, however, a statement of an interest charge, but after being told by the salesman that there would be none, we took his word for it - big mistake. Our balance after the 8 month period was less than $1000, but because the entire balance hadn't been transferred, we were hit with what would be over $600 in interest charges. Upon contacting both Great Southern Water Treatment and Time Investment Company (3rd party), I was basically thrown to the side and even got hung up on by GSWT. Each side said it was the responsibility of the other and so I was left high and dry with no recourse (other than the BBB and this submission).
Product Quality
The salesman indicated that the system removed "everything", leaving pure 100% H2O. I knew that some systems could achieve this, but only learned after the sale that Reverse Osmosis is the only type of system that truly can. Our system is basically no different than others costing 1/4th it's cost, and even less. Our ignorance of the water treatment market made us susceptible to the sale that ensued. The city water does contain chlorine, but the content thereof is nowhere near as dangerous or caustic to our bodies or clothes as the salesman led us to believe. Also, the inpurities in the city water are so small that the partial removal of them is trivial, whereas, upon being told that the system removed EVERYTHING, the prospect of pure water is attractive, especially since we had a 7 month old baby boy at the time, an aspect which the salesman worked hard to appeal to our parental instincts.
I am willing to do whatever it takes to right the wrong that occured when the salesman came to my home and pulled the wool over our eyes.organizations that intentionally decieve the public should be held responsible for their actions. Either way, I will be a much more cautious and suspicious consumer from here on, but won't rest until I am satisfied with the issue at hand.
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