Who got screwed by ecowater systems?

Clearly SATISFACTION is the key to good sales. But besides being disgruntled about 'being sold' you really haven't mentioned anything wrong with the system. The softener should produce softened water and the RO should remove significant amounts of TDS amoung otyher contaminants. Is that not happening?

Service calls can happen within the first few days, or even weeks, as systems might need to be tweaked to perform to their maximum capacity. This is not unusual. Good sales staff should do a physical follow-up.

Ecowater does make quality equipment and their service department is treating you well. I am just having a hard time understanding how the system does not work. What is causing the 'nightmare'?

I never heard of Ecowater claiming a lifetime warranty (like some other companies do) and this term should always raise red flags whatever the product or service.

There is no doubt that there are sales reps that cut corners, omit important factors and down right lie. This is common in all sales from the beginning of time and all mature consumers should be aware of this and develop defense mechanisms to safeguard themselves.

Hang in there, I have a feeling it will work as designed.

Andy Christensen, CWS-II

Re: Who got screwed by ecowater systems?

I do.


Actually that is a federal law that says you have three business days, not counting weekends or holidays, to cancel the order; it's called the right of recision.


The Whirlpool at Lowe's, Kenmore at Sears, the GE at Home Depot, mortonsalt.com online and North Star sold through plumbing and pump supply houses are nothing more than a 'stripped down' version of what you have. They are all made by Ecowater and don't usually last more than 2-5 years before they break.

There is no residential softener worth more than $1500-1800 installed. Unless you have like a 5 bathroom house with a large tub and two person shower or body sprays etc.. I say that based on my experience selling and servicing softeners etc. as a local dealer and as an online dealer for the last 21 years and competing with just about every brand name there is.

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The water system was not working, the RO water was running too fast, so there was water just running down the drain all the time. Service department fixed problem with some sort of smaller rubber fitting. Water softener was not working correctly, dont know exactly what was wrong with it because the service rep, just made some adjustment and we again have soft water. I dont know how soft it is, because the salesman and serice deparment run different tests. The service department has been the better part of this deal/scam. I actually had no complaints with them. We had a conference call involving salesman, local dealer and service department from finance company...I called the salesman out as someone just trying to make a buck who didnt care about the customer. His reply was he took pride in every customer, of which I replied he took so much time, he sent a thank you note addresed to Mr and Mrs Smith, and they dont live here. My fiancee's last name is smith, however, my name is clearly all over the contract and had he looked at it long enough or thought about the sale he would have remembered. He also forgot to mention the laboer was only covered for a year. Until the service man informed us otherwise, we were under the impression the filters were also under the lifetime warranty. I have no idea what is in the water, other than chlorine. We also received the "free soap" for a year, still experimenting with it, but figured it was thrown into cost, once we started complaining during the 3 day timeline. We could have a lower price if we gave the soap back. All in all, it is our fault we let ourselves get scammed, I normally dont fall for this deal or similar, it just seemed like a good deal, one of the selling points was I could take the system to my next house. I'm in the military and move frequently, salesman told me I could just pay for it and then move it to new location. He left out the part about how it ties into your water lines and how much it costs to remove and install.... We were told we would not need fabric softener anymore becaus the water was so soft, still need it! I primarily made this post, to vent, and to let others know not to be a dumbass like myself, if I had the three days back, I would not have purchased. I dont see a real difference in what the RO water is supposed to to compared to normal water. I was told by a certified water treatment tech, I could have had a simple charcoal filter and had just as clean water. also told I spent way too much. Maybe it will all work out in the end and the system will add a little value to the house when I sell it in 5 years.....

icewidge, what town/state do you live in?


I don't believe that you have been scammed...
You are experiencing buyers remorse compounded by a few installation glitches.
It does sound like the selling dealer is working to correct all problems, so things will get better.

Also, there is a huge difference between RO clean water and simple charcoal filtered water.


I bet you wish you had found this A2K and done more research before you made your purchase.
On the plus side, you purchased the absolute best H2O system made.
Don't beat yourself up so much ~
Many have gone through similar situations only to end up with a crappy RainSoft system at an even higher price.

That's some great twisted and fuzzy logic there H20man!

He's in the military, thanks for serving Ice, and he got ripped off for at least $5000 by an Ecowater crook. You propose Ecowater to everyone that will listen and now tell him he should have done better research! and feel good because he didn't get ripped worse with a $9000 Rain Soft...

I'm certain you would not know quality equipment even if it snuck up and bit you on the ass.

Ice will be fine and he should be happy that he did not get ripped off by an online crook that does not install or service what he sells.

I have a Ecowater system in my home and absolutely love it! My water is so soft it still amazes me. My families skin is so soft that just today my daughter was saying how all of her friends use lotion after showering to try to ward off dry skin, while she never has to use anything, its soft already. Your comment about a "water quality expert" stating that a simple carbon filter would produce water just as good as a reverse osmosis unit is simply wrong. Reverse Osmosis utilizes seperations technology to actually seperate contaminates from water. Carbon will remove most chemicals including chlorine from your water but will do nothing for "Radium" "Nitrates" "Lead" "Asbestos" and many other potentially harmfull substances that could find their way into your water. I urge you to do some more research into this very fine system you own, you may find that someone actually did you a very good service by introducing you to it. One more thing, I was sold my system by a reputable dealer who takes care of their customers, possibly your dealer isn't as good, but that still does not mean the product is no good. And finally, do you think that if someone had not contacted you that your family would have sought out clean water on their own, I doubt it, I know I would not have! Could I have paid less for quality water, probably, would I have , most likely no. Its easy to have buyers remorse after a purchase of this type but speaking for me and my family we would'nt be without it!!! Satisfied Customer

What did you pay for your system?

I paid 4495.00 for softener and r/o including tax and installation. Also included was a pure soap package from Cal-Ben soap company of California for 48 months. Enjoy the soaps.

Maybe the OP is justified in being disappointed, then. He says he paid $6,000 for the system.

I think that ecowater is taking advantage of people's obsession with obtaining the best pure water. I believe that in the United States we are extremely lucky to have plentiful access to clean water. I also think ecowater is scamming people at many different levels. My household was tricked into having an ecowater salesman come to our house under pretenses of working with Home Depot and welcoming our family to the area with a free water evaluation. When the salesman came to our house, he literally looked like he was on drugs with eyes bulging and jaw shifting. His only means of idenification associated with ecowater was a laminated name tag and his briefcase of water testing supplies. I think if ecowater wants to maintain any type of reputation, they may want to screen their representatives better and be more mindful and honest when reaching out into the community.

What do you all think about this deal? I'm looking for a good softenere and R/O system. I have well water which is hard (9), slightly elevated nitrates and iron.

I had an ecowater sales rep come out to the house a few days back. Long and short of it, I could get the eco 3500 softener system and the R/O system, plus install for $3000. The softener itself was $2100.

Sounds like I may be getting a good deal on a good system. What are your thoughts?

What other quality systems have you compared them to? Kinetico, Culligan?

I think it's too high. $2100 is twice what an industry standard (read nonproprietary) softener would cost if bought online. That includes shipping. I suggest one with a Clack WS-1 CS version control valve.

National brand name softeners are proprietary, meaning only the local dealer can service it because he is the only one that can get parts for it. And that means he can charge any amount he wants to for a service call and the parts. Non proprietary means you can get parts from many dealers; and replace parts yourself if you want to.

Best system I have had is the Hague it cost but I have had no issues at all. I have only had to add salt once in the 7 months I have used it. The guy that installed it fixed my well and added this system for 6500.00 but I felt like it was money well spent when you think about what I got and the length and quality of the warranty.

Very Satisfied

Yep I got stuck. So no servise on any of my equipment charged me $134 to come out and put in new filters that I could of bought for $20 each. They make promises and tell you what you want hear. I was suppose to get 9.9 interest NO, I was suppose to be able to move (military orders) NO, they said first year service was free NO. The company might be good but there sells force is dirty.
Go to lowes, or anywhere else.

My very elderly parents got taken to the cleaners by Ec0-Water. They paid $8,000 for the system and it does not do what they claimed. When they need service, which has been several times over the last couple of years as the system breaks down completely, they have to call numerous times and when the service people do come out, they are sold yet another upgrade for another $500.00. It is currently not working again and luckily this time my parents called me first. The last time it broke down, they had to order a part ($300) that took over a month to get because they were told their five year old system was actually older than what they had been told and the parts had to be special ordered. I suspect they sold them an old unit that they had pulled from someone else's home. We are going to try another route to get it fixed. I am contacting the Better Business Bureau today. This is Elder Fraud at its worst!

I watch out for an elderly 95 year old. She was supposed to have a bulb replacement on her water softener, for $ 100.00...... $$$ 2500.00 later and a finance company with sky high interest rates, she is now an owner of a purification system. Let the buyer be aware!!!

Not a day goes by where I don't wish I bought another house and RO system. Crazy pressure at the time of "demo"(if you do it now, you save $$). Replacing RO filters cost me $200 a year(replace 2x every 12 months). Before I got a knock on my door begging me to let them do their demonstration, I had NEVER looked into any water filtration systems. After purchasing, and walking through Home Depot a month or so later, I wanted to vomit over how much less I could have purchased comparable systems for. Would never make the decision to purchase this system again.