Here at Royal Water Systems we not only install quality made water softeners, but we also service our customer base typically once a year or every six months as the situation may require making sure that the systems we install are not only working perfectly, but that the homeowner is happy and satisfied. Sometimes though it brings up bad news and I wanted to get this out and perhaps save others of our customers and potential customers out there from getting ripped off.
I showed up by appointment at the home of a very fine, 3-year customer of Royal Water Systems to perform a routine filter change as I had for the previous 3 years since installing a water softener and reverse osmosis system in this particular home only to find a brand new softener installed by a competitor. I was shocked. Tests on the water softener every year proved it to be working perfectly and not a single complaint from the homeowner as well. The homeowner informed me that someone from the competing company knocked on his door and he “upgraded” to a system that uses Potassium instead of Salt. I asked the homeowner if he would mind sharing with me the price he paid for his new “upgraded” system and all I got out of him was that it was “bloody expensive.” I didn’t really go over the details with him, but I let him know that he got severely taken advantage of to the tune of whatever he paid for the new water softener. I will share the details of what actually happened here:
1. First – ANY WATER SOFTENER CAN USE EITHER SALT OR POTASSIUM!! You don’t have to make a single change to the softener either. You don’t have pay someone to “convert” your softener over to salt or Potassium. It’s just like going to the gas station – you can put premium gasoline, mid-grade gasoline, or regular gasoline in your car and simply drive off.
2. Because my competitor sold the homeowner on a “upgraded” system that uses potassium he could and did install a softener of inferior quality. My customer actually gave up his 15-year warranty water softener in exchange for a 5-year warranty softener and didn’t even realize it.
3. The competitor gave the homeowner a free tank of Potassium. Sounds generous, doesn’t it? I asked the homeowner if he was informed of the cost of Potassium vs Salt and the homeowner said, “No.” I told the homeowner he was in for a rude awakening when it came time to put more Potassium into his new “upgraded” water softener. Potassium costs anywhere from $25-$35 per bag whereas Salt costs anywhere from $2.50-$5.50 per bag. So the softener that I installed that cost him $50-$60 per year for salt will now cost the homeowner $350-$400 per year in Potassium.
4. I asked the homeowner if he liked his Reverse Osmosis system. He told me he loved it and that he can’t stand any other water but water from his Reverse Osmosis system and that he likes it so well he takes bottles of it to his workplace every day to keep himself hydrated. I reminded him that when I installed his original softener he paid me extra to run extra plumbing so that his drinking water would not run through the softener at all and that besides that a Reverse Osmosis system will remove 100% of any sodium or potassium that a water softener adds to water. In other words, this homeowner will NEVER receive a single benefit of the new “upgraded” water softener that uses Potassium and he would actually be better off to go right back to salt in his new “upgraded” water softener.
Sad but true!
Sam Nielsen – Royal Water Systems
801-850-1839