Buyer Beware: Water Treatment Testing Scams of the Door to Door Water Filter Salesman
Sales scams and misleading promotions
Many treatment companies offer free in-home testing of drinking water. Unfortunately, some unscrupulous dealers use this as an opportunity to frighten consumers into purchasing equipment that may not be needed. The salesperson might add chemicals to the water that cause particles to form or color changes to occur. These demonstrations prove nothing about the safety of the water for drinking. Another sales tactic offers water treatment equipment as part of a larger prize promotion. The individual is forced to purchase the water treatment device in order to obtain the larger prize, and both often prove to be of little value.Do not purchase equipment from salespeople who use misleading newspaper articles or governmental reports, or who misrepresent themselves as employees of a water utility. Many states do not allow false or exaggerated claims in advertising water treatment equipment, or the use of such graphic representations as a skull and crossbones over a glass of water. A more subtle advertising technique than those discussed above is to understate the maintenance requirements of the equipment. Most water treatment devices do require some maintenance such as filter changes, the addition of chemicals, or backwashing. And watch out for those little post cards that say your the water in your area has been testing positive for bacteria or they hang a little water sample jar from your mail box its all a scam!!!
Maintenance and monitoring requirements
Most water treatment devices require some routine maintenance to function properly. Systems on the market today have maintenance procedures that range from manual to fully automatic. The consumer should realistically determine how active he or she wishes to be in maintaining the unit. This is extremely important if the device will be used to remove a health hazard from the water. Aside from possible damage to the system itself, improper maintenance can result in the contaminant entering the treated water. Aquaflow offers a service contract for maintaining the treatment device and the cost of this, as well as any other upkeep cost, should be added to the purchase price when comparing different options.
Product lifetime and warranty
Although a salesperson may estimate the effectiveness of the water treatment device over a certain time period, the actual lifetime depends on such factors as maintenance, water flow rate, and amount of contaminant to be removed.Watch out for those companys that offer to warranty your complete system for a monthly fee.Check with your state to see if they need to have a insurance license to sell you there warranty.In the state of florida they must have this license if you are paying them for the warranty.Also ask the for a amendment sheet there is always a catch!! Companys that offer a lifetime warranty on the systems again ask them for the amendment sheet or issues that will void your warranty,you will be surprized to see how much of the system is not warranted for life!!
