My good friend Bruce Whitney posted a thread on the mywateradvice forum
I replied in the forum, but reflecting on it I felt it was a big enough issue that it warranted a blog posting.
The residential soft water industry is relatively unregulated and we rely on ourselves as a community of professionals to maintain a code of conduct and protect the consumer through education, training and certification such as those provided by the WQA and other sterling organizations.
When I read about a retailer behaving in this manner, it is both infuriating and disappointing. I had hoped that in the 21st century, those old “slick” dinosaurs had all faded away. It sounds like we still have people out there who are conducting themselves unprofessionally and unethically.
If you purport yourself to be a water treatment expert/professional, you shouldn’t want to or need to do anything illegal or unethical to make your sale. Soft water is one of the few “luxuries” a homeowner can buy that are actually extremely beneficial, and can often pay for themselves tangibly (soap, energy, appliance savings) in addition to the intangibly “lifestyle benefits” that we all understand like improved aesthetics in the home, time savings and peace of mind.
It is astounding to me to hear of a dealer who conducts himself in this way. As an industry, we all know better and we all should behave better.
I’m certain that some of the disgruntled customers will contact their local TV station, complain to the BBB, post bad reviews on the internet etc… and even complain to their state office of consumer protection. While some of you might think that this only has a detrimental effect on the miscreant dealer who is out there behaving badly, but it actually really reflects poorly on our entire industry.
Remember this unethical dealer when you or your team are out there selling and remember to adhere to the highest ethics.