Eastern Wisconsin Culligan Water Conditioning

The ***’s had problems with their well and since we had recently installed equipment in their home they came to the conclusion that is was our equipmentWater softeners do not cause an odor, odors come from bacteria/hydrogen sulfide in a wellIn discussing this with the ***’s,
they had not treated their well in the decade that they have lived in their homeWe informed them that they needed to and provided them info on well treatment from the WI DNR, we informed them beforehand that they may get black water immediately after chlorination, which is common, that is the bacteria from the wellThey also had excessive amounts of sediment coming from the well that caused the service problems which was also shown to them, the filters in weeks were sediment filters where under conditions a single filter should last up to yearThey are correct that the softener had a leak that needed to be repaired and the monitor on the drinking water system also failed, so we did have service calls on the equipment
On Thursday, July 17th we agreed to remove the equipment and issue the customer a refund*** *** told me she was satisfied with this offer and it is scheduled for removal next Tuesday July 22ndShe also understands that the refund check will take a few weeks to process and should be received by the middle of August
Please let me know if any other info is needed

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response.  If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]
Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that the refund is satisfactory, but the response from Culligan is far from satisfactory. While it is true that our well had not been chlorinated, the issues with the water odor and quality did not emerge until the Culligan unit was installed, and that was before AND after chlorination, which leads us to believe it is the Culligan system causing the odor so we would be trapped into adding extra filters, which means added recurring revenue for them.
 The only issue we previously had was low water pressure from the build up of iron that was in the Iron Curtain System. We never had foul odor or discoloration until the culligan unit was installed. It is amazing that they have blamed the entire failure of the equipment on our well when we were lied to from the very beginning by salesman [redacted] when he told us that we did not have any noticeable iron in our water and that the unit would SAVE us on salt usage. We were told numerous lies and I hope that no one else is swayed by his unethical practices. The unit is faulty, we had water leakages, we had a bad motherboard, the salt in the system we now have burns through 2, 50 pound bags per month! How is that a savings? The RO system leaked all over our cabinet under our sink, damaging the floor of the cabinet. We have nothing but problems where we had none before. 
While I am pleased that we will receive the full refund, I am not at all pleased by Culligan's lies about what has occurred. 
 
[redacted] & [redacted]

Review: We had our Culligan water softening system installed on January 23, after a presentation by representative [redacted]. We were having no water issues when we had him come by, but wanted to see if there was a better way to soften and condition our water than with our older softener and Iron Curtain System. [redacted] told us that we had very little iron in our water and did not need the Iron Curtain and should not have had it installed in the first place. [redacted] also said that our softener was not doing a good job of creating zero hardness. he said that the new system would be just what we needed and we would not need anything else.

He assured us that their system would take care of the small amount of iron and would use less salt and that they could monitor our system from the home office. We agreed to the rental program and had it installed. After installation, we noticed a terrible odor and odd color in the water, so bad that we could not drink it and instead used bottled water. Our water seemed to be ruined as soon as their system was installed in our home. [redacted] came back out and said they would run h202 through our pipes and that the smell was due to their superior system over our old inferior system. After the treatment, the odor remained, so they came back out and pumped more H202 through the system. The odor remained. During that time, the water softener malfunctioned, used up all of our salt and the other sanitizing chemical in the unit, so it was replaced. Then, because of the continued odor, they decided to chlorinate our well and after that, we had black water. a few days later, the well pump shut down leading to a replacement of the pump, as well as the pressure tanks which became fouled in the process. At that point, we had spent approximately $2500. The odor and green water continued after all of that effort and Culligan installed another filter into the system (we had 4 pre-filters installed in just six weeks) and we finally purchased a case of pre filters of our own to save money . Because of the odor, we had Culligan install a reverse osmosis drinking water system so I didn't have to purchase water any more and we had something better to drink than the smelly water. Culligan ran tests on our water and no one could figure out where the sudden odor came from and the new filter system helped. At one point, our softener leaked water all over the floor and a serviceman had to come and work on it until the leaking stopped.

The discoloration in the water also caused many of our clothing items to be ruined in the laundry due to the inferior color and odor of the water. Oddly enough, the hard water outside of our home was in better condition than the softened water inside our home.

The problem now is that our softener has run out of salt twice, using an inordinate amount of salt-one time I had to purchase my own Culligan salt at the store and refill it myself on a Saturday. When the serviceman came to refill last week, he said that the unit we have is designed to use more salt. When I called [redacted], the [redacted], he told me that we have a softener that removes irons and uses more salt, but he could set the softener to be less effective if we desired. Of course, we don't want a less effective softener, but [redacted] told us we would use LESS salt than our previous softener that was working well, so I am confused. When I called and emailed [redacted] about this issue, he said that he stands by [redacted] even though he wasn't present for the sales presentation. We are now stuck in a three year rental contract for equipment that is not working as promised. I have lost faith in Culligan service. I called Culligan international yesterday and the woman who answered the phone refused to give me the office of the president, saying he was out of state. She hung up on me when I asked her for his number. I then found another number and spoke with a woman who spent 45 minutes typing a report, but I don't know if the president will see our complaint or not since no one has been able to solve our issues thus far.

The fact that the last serviceman who came out told us that our system was designed to use more salt to accommodate not having an Iron Curtain is is contrary to what [redacted] told us when we met with him and we find that it is a fraudulent misrepresentation of our contract with Culligan.Desired Settlement: We are not in a position to be renting two units and paying for so much extra salt and feel that unless something can be done, we need Culligan to break our contracts with them and have you refund our installation costs and rental fees from day one, so that we can go elsewhere for our water treatment services.

Business

Response:

The [redacted]’s had problems with their well and since we had recently installed equipment in their home they came to the conclusion that is was our equipment. Water softeners do not cause an odor, odors come from bacteria/hydrogen sulfide in a well. In discussing this with the [redacted]’s, they had not treated their well in the decade that they have lived in their home. We informed them that they needed to and provided them info on well treatment from the WI DNR, we informed them beforehand that they may get black water immediately after chlorination, which is common, that is the bacteria from the well. They also had excessive amounts of sediment coming from the well that caused the service problems which was also shown to them, the 4 filters in 6 weeks were sediment filters where under normal conditions a single filter should last up to 1 year. They are correct that the softener had a leak that needed to be repaired and the monitor on the drinking water system also failed, so we did have service calls on the equipment.

On Thursday, July 17th we agreed to remove the equipment and issue the customer a refund. [redacted] told me she was satisfied with this offer and it is scheduled for removal next Tuesday July 22nd. She also understands that the refund check will take a few weeks to process and should be received by the middle of August.

Please let me know if any other info is needed.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that the refund is satisfactory, but the response from Culligan is far from satisfactory. While it is true that our well had not been chlorinated, the issues with the water odor and quality did not emerge until the Culligan unit was installed, and that was before AND after chlorination, which leads us to believe it is the Culligan system causing the odor so we would be trapped into adding extra filters, which means added recurring revenue for them.

The only issue we previously had was low water pressure from the build up of iron that was in the Iron Curtain System. We never had foul odor or discoloration until the culligan unit was installed. It is amazing that they have blamed the entire failure of the equipment on our well when we were lied to from the very beginning by salesman [redacted] when he told us that we did not have any noticeable iron in our water and that the unit would SAVE us on salt usage. We were told numerous lies and I hope that no one else is swayed by his unethical practices. The unit is faulty, we had water leakages, we had a bad motherboard, the salt in the system we now have burns through 2, 50 pound bags per month! How is that a savings? The RO system leaked all over our cabinet under our sink, damaging the floor of the cabinet. We have nothing but problems where we had none before.

While I am pleased that we will receive the full refund, I am not at all pleased by Culligan's lies about what has occurred.

[redacted] & [redacted]

Review: I am continually being billed for charges that I have already paid. I have had a culligan account since I purchased my home in August 2011. I have made monthly payments through my bank's on=line bill pay and they have always been cashed.

My payments originally were sent to the [redacted] remittance address by my bank. All these checks sent to this Culligan address were cashed for more than a year. At some point the servicing center and remit address changed and when my bank sent the checks to the existing address in [redacted] several monthly payments were not accepted and refused. There were four total.

My research did show that in late 2012 there were a few checks sent by my bank to [redacted] that were refused, I have since paid those four checks to the [redacted] address. I have made ALL of my payments on a timely basis and should not be charged any late fees that they billed me. Culligan is threatening collection action and asking for $101.14, an amount that I do not owe.

I have written numerous letters to them regarding this in the past, I have sent them copies of reports from by bill pay services at my bank indicating the monthly checks were sent to Culligan and cashed. I have had conversations in the past with both offices. When they questioned certain payments I sent them copies of verification from my bank .Desired Settlement: Culligan should reverse all finance or late fees and credit my account to bring it to a net zero balance. I have made each and every one of my payments on time.

Business

Response:

In July of 2011 our company was sold by Culligan International to a Culligan dealer. The customer continued to send in their payments (electronically through their bank) to the old companies remittance address. For a very long time the former company was cashing those checks and forwarding the money to us at which time we would apply it to the customer’s account. The customer was notified many times about the change in ownership and they were given a new remit to address. The customer was notified that they needed to start to send their payments to our address and not that of the former owners. At some point the former owner began cashing the checks and then sent the money back to the customer via a refund to the customer rather than forwarding the payments on to us to apply to the customer’s account…it was at that time that the customer’s account fell into past due status. The customers money was making its way to our former owners, and then back to the customer, but it never made its way to us.

Review: On 1/25/2016 I had a service call from Culligan Burlington, the service technician was [redacted]. He was suppose to come and give a Free Water Analysis and for $39.95 he would do a system check of my water softener system. [redacted] was there for a total of 20 minutes. Ran some water into some small test tubes, added something and said you have Iron in your water and showed me a rust colored test tube. Then he said it sounds like a I have a bad piston in one of the filters. He looked at a few pipes and the tops of the other filters and said my system is not working that I need a new one. He shut off the water going to the softener saying it was not working anyway and said to call the office for an appt. to get a new system quoted. Never did I receive a water analysis to tell me what my water consisted of. After his 20 minute visit I call his office to set up an appt. and also called another company to come out to give me a second opinion. The second company came out 2 days later and after 45 minutes of testing my system told me I needed a piston as one of the filters is not working properly. In those 2 days after Fenando turned of my softener my toiliets and sinks started getting rust stains, water became very hard to where soap would not suds up . I called the office at Culligan and voiced my complaint only to hear I'm sorry for his visit to your home and I will tell my manager whom was not in the office, of course. Now I get a bill for $41.94 which I don't think I should have to pay as all he did was deceit me into thinking I had a bad system.Desired Settlement: I want this bill to be torn up and others to know of this companies practices.

Business

Response:

I talked to Mr. Denny this morning, we agreed to credit his invoice, he is happy with the resolution.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

Regards,