As with many of you, I was almost suckered into buying an overpriced "luxury" equipment that we didn't really need.
This is my story:
I bought a brand new house, built March 2010. 2 weeks upon moving in (March 23 was move in date), I get a ring of the doorbell. Who is it? I wonder...Oh, it's a young man with a shirt that reads "Rainsoft." I'm thinking, as with all other door guys we have run into since I purchased the house, "I don't want your service, whatever it is." He proceeds and tells me that they are doing a free water test for all residents in my neighborhood and that the test will take no longer than 30 minutes, give or take depending on the amount of questions that was asked. I asked him what the hardness level of the water was in my neighborhood, since they did run the tests on multiple houses around me already. He wouldn't tell me - said that I'd need the water professional (who just happens to be his dad) to run the test and tell me himself. He also threw in a $25 gift certificate to Home Depot. My fiancee was drawn to the gift certificate so we agreed.
On the appointment date, my fiancee was at work. The "professional" told me that she must be home in order for us to get the gift certificate. I asked why and his response was that someone's husband murdered his wife for purchasing a system without his knowledge. Wow! I assured him that I wouldn't get murdered if I did decide to purchase, but he insisted that she was home anyway. I cleared my schedule for the presentation, which he was already late to.
Anywho, the next appointment, we were both home. He went through his normal presentation. I was actually surprised at how "dirty" my water was. Well, it wasn't actually dirty, the sales man just told me that it was dirty, and had the tests to prove it. Yeah, right...Half way into the presentation, I looked at the clock, as I was getting hungry. The presentation started at 6:30 and didn't end until about 10pm. My fiancee, was very impressed. I wanted to test his "holy" water with some of our detergents, but he wouldn't let me. Gee, I wonder why? Was the experiment rigged? If he was so confident about his water, why didn't he let me perform my own small experiment right? Well, anyways, I then decide to turn on my computer. He suddenly stopped what he was doing and asked my fiancee, "what is he doing?" And she told him, he's probably going to check out Rainsoft reviews to make sure you guys are the real deal before buying. He got offended, and so I didn't check it. If his product was so superior, what would he be so afraid of? Got me really thinking. My fiancee eventually signed on the dotted line. We were promised that if we could find another product for cheaper that does exactly what Rainsoft does, they would drop the price. Finally, after signing everything, he leaves my house. I had dinner at 10:30pm (I usually eat before 7pm...).
I have been busy at work, but decided to read my contract - 3 days after transaction to cancel. Hmmmmm...the sales guy didn't tell us this. Good thing I read this before on the second night going onto the third day as I would be in a ride that I didn't want to take. I proceed to go online and do some research and low and behold, I see all these negative reviews about this company, their sales tactics, their inability to explain to you the hidden fees involved with maintaining the system, which we were told is basically maintenance free, and a whole slew of negatives about Rainsoft.
My fiancee was still excited to finally be able to get soft water into our house. I, however, did not like the idea that I was going to be stuck with a lemon for the life of my home. I call the sales guy and told him to stop the delivery/installation guy. The sales guy had the audacity to tell me "Man, you are killing me [chuckles]...I'm going to lose 300 bucks." I tell him "wait a minute, you care more about your commission than my inability to pay for the piece of [censor] equipment that you hard sold me and my fiancee? Cancel it! I could care less that you didn't make your commission." I was going to lose $7000 and he was worried about a $300 commission. All I can say is wow, these guys are really from a different planet. They really are commission hungry. I'm sure he would've gotten such a bigger commission than just $300 bucks, but I wasn't going to go on his guilt trip.
An hour later, I got a call from the Fresno, CA B&D district manager, who through many phone calls, I got to discount the price of the whole home system for $3500. He wouldn't go lower, so I didn't go with it. I didn't want to deal with the headache of yearly service calls, which the sales guy totally left out of his presentation. Thanks to all the reviews I have read, I'm glad I did not throw away my money into a piece of crap system.
There is one positive thing I have to say about Rainsoft, however. They did open my eyes to why water stains my appliances. So after this ordeal, I still wanted a softener, but one from a more reputable company. I eventually called the local Kinetico company after doing a lot of research.
All in all, I learned a lot. I hope you all do some research before buying into Rainsoft. There are a lot of good softeners out there. I do have the money to spend, so I went with Kinetico, which is also on the expensive side (got my dechlorinator and Mach 2040 for $2500 installed), but there are also some less expensive, highly reputable softeners as well. Good luck all :)
