Water Shakedown

So we have been getting numerous calls from this number that popped up on our caller ID as "QWSI" since we have moved into our house.  I finally answered the phone and it was a water company that wanted to test our water since we are new homeowners and they will give us a $20 gift card to Home Depot for letting them come into our home.  I thought it would be good idea to test our water but I was still leery of this being a scam so I got all of the information from the caller and told her if anything happens I would be looking for her specifically.  I’m not sure she liked my comment but I didn’t care.

So a tester from Quality Water (something or other) shows up our house on Monday evening at 6:30 PM, it happened to be a woman so it was less intrusive.  She had briefcase full of beakers and chemicals and I’m thinking this is legit, no hanky business going on here.  She tests the water coming from our sink and our drinking water from our refrigerator.  Our chlorine levels were low and it surprised her but our water had a lot of particles and water was very hard, level 10 and it’s suppose to be 1.  She then goes through this exercise of washing our hands.  With one hand we used water from her contraption attached to our sink and the other we used the regular water coming out of our faucet.  There was a huge difference, I was surprisingly shocked at the difference.  At this point I’m ready to buy whatever she is selling because I was amazed with the differences of her water vs ours but of course it also depends on the price.  There were a couple of other tests as well comparing hers vs ours.

So we go to our newly finished dining room to sit down to go over her high glossy presentation book and discuss the price.  Good thing I was sitting down because I would have probably collapsed when I saw her price for this unit, $6,307 for a 3 piece water treatment system.  I was amazed and almost flabbergasted, but how in the hell I’m suppose to know how much this stuff costs.  All I’m thinking about is bathing my future baby in my nasty water and drinking nasty water as well.  I told her we appreciate her time and there is no way we are buying her unit today based on that price.  She then tries to go over how much money we will save by not having to buy soaps, detergents, cleaners, etc.  You supposedly got a 5 year supply of cleaning detergents when you bought the unit. 

One thing I will say, I hate buying anything having not done any research.  We went to Destin Florida one on timeshare deal  a few years ago and they were trying to sell us a timeshare for $12,000, I told them it sounds well and dandy but we weren’t buying it.  First off we didn’t have that kind of money, and second I had no clue on what a timeshare costs.  When I got home I found we could buy that same timeshare for somewhere around $750 online, pretty big difference.       

So this brings me back to the Quality Water, we sent them on their way and thanked them for their time and the gift card.  The following morning I did some research and I discovered I could buy something similar to their unit ranging from $500 to $1,250.  Lesson learned from this ordeal, if there is cold calling and a high glossy presentation, it’s overpriced.  This is now two instances between the timeshare and Quality Water, I hope you never fall for the trap as well.