Complaints

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• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/10/2023

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I was charged for a service that is to be included in a monthly rental fee as dictated on the Culligan Water Corporate website. The fee was also excessive. When asking for a breakdown of the charges I never received an actual itemized bill. I received a text message from the owner with a breakdown of charges where I was charged almost 3 times retail pricing for parts. Upon questioning the charges the owner later retracted the itemized bill telling me they just charge a flat fee.
  I emailed a complaint to their corporate headquarters for resolution. I was later sent a gift certificate for the billed amount but I am moving out of state and the certificate is for the local franchise so it will do me no good. I contacted the company and returned the gift certificate asking for a refund but have not heard back in over 1 week.
  The attached documentation is what was sent to Culligan Corporate and contains all infomation relevant to the complaint.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/16/2023

  *****
  
  Thank you for bringing this to my attention, I have looked into this situation and found that you were charged the appropriate amount for the reinstallation of the Rental Reverse osmosis system. We use flat rate pricing here so that you do not have to worry about a technician working too slowly or using parts that could have been skipped. All of our Installers are instructed to install all systems to local plumbing code and with high quality fittings. They are not to worry about the cost of the fittings, only doing the job correctly and thinking of future use of a property and installing with that in mind. The installation fee of $250 is the same if the installer takes 45min because he has 15 years of experience and has installed thousands of systems, or if it takes him 2.5hrs because he added additional valves, tubing, fitting that make the system easier to service or maintain in the future.
  We feel this is the most fair way to price for our customers so that our customers do not need to worry about looking up individual fittings or tracking total time we are at their homes to make sure they are billed appropriately.  
  In today's business environment this is what we need to charge.  I have attached a gift certificate for $250.00 towards the purchase of a new softener or reverse osmosis system. I will also send a hard copy in the mail.
  
  
  Thank you for your understanding.
  Jason Hanson
  [email protected]
  
  
  Culligan Watertown
  PO Box 32
  Watertown SD 57201

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/29/2023

  
  
  Complaint: ********
  
  
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  *** ****** from Culligan did send
  me a gift certificate (to their business in Watertown SD) in the amount of
  $250.00 but only after I had spoken to Culligans corporate office. I notified
  *** ****** that a gift certificate was of no use to me for the following
  reasons. First being that I am moving out of state and a gift certificate to
  the business located in the town I was leaving would be of no value. Even if I
  was not moving out of state I would have no use with a gift certificate for a
  R/O system install that I already had. I informed *** ****** of this and simply
  asked that he refund the 250.00 I had paid but he did not reply to my email. I
  feel that the gift certificate was a worthless gesture sent only to appease
  their corporate office.
  In
  an email on October 31st. (attached) I had questioned *** ****** a bit further
  on why he did not inform me he would be charging me the full new install price
  of 250.00 when asked about hooking the system back up. I could have easily had
  they 3 fitting reconnected but knew that they had to disconnect these lines
  when servicing the unit for the schedule filter change. *** ******'s reply did
  not address why he did not inform me that he intended to charge me a new
  installation price. He stated that he charged me a flat rate of 250.00 for a
  new install and that "in todays business environment this is what we have
  to charge". This was a retraction to his previous itemized text message
  (no official itemized bill) showing labor and part pricing. Also, this was not
  a new install. This equipment has been in this home for 19 years. The equipment
  was assembled and had all the plumbing lines and fitting in place. This was no
  where near a "new install" it was a connection of about 3 push to
  connect fittings. A process that my plumber could have achieved in less than 10
  minutes when he installed the new shut off fittings on my water lines.
  The
  fact that *** ****** was vacillating on what he was charging me for and could
  not provide me with an itemized bill after repeated requests looks as if he is
  engaging in profiteering. He even states that he has to apply these charges by
  saying "in todays business environment this is what we have to
  charge". This leads me to believe he had no real justification for the
  charges and when questioned about them he had to create fictitious charges with
  inflated part pricing and labor (that is to be included in the monthly rental
  fee as stated on Culligan Waters own corporate website) to try and justify
  them.
  Some
  further information to this complaint:
  After
  I had informed *** ****** that if we could not come to some resolution on this
  matter I would be contacting the BBB and the Consumer Protection Agency he then
  tried turning me into the city of Watertown for not having a building permit
  for replacing my kitchen cabinets. (A project that a building permit is not
  required for) Upon receiving a certified letter from the city that they were
  informed that I had done work without obtaining a permit I went to speak to
  them. I was quite sure that a non structural kitchen cabinet replacement did
  not require me to obtain a permit but  I went to the building services
  department at city hall to verify. In my conversation at city hall  I
  discovered that they were told by *** ****** that I had done a "major
  remodel" of my kitchen, which I had not done. I had only updated my old
  cabinets with new with the exact same layout that I had previously had. There
  was not structural changes to the kitchen at all and as suspected I was told
  that a permit was not required.
  Mr.
  Hanson also verified that he had in fact been the one who took this action in
  his response letter to the Consumer Protection Agency (see attached) where he
  confirms this.
  For
  a local business owner to take this type of petty and childish action after
  being legitimately questioned on charges that are to be included in a
  monthly rental fee (that had been payed for over 19 years) raises the question
  of what type of business they are engaged in. It seems vindictive in nature.
  Not providing any type of paper billing after repeated requests and only text
  messaging part and labor pricing in place of an official billing on Culligan
  letterhead is also suspect.
  I
  have been a customer of Culligan for both an R/O system rental as well as a
  water softener rental for over 20 years. I have paid thousands of dollars for
  these rentals in this timeframe. This 250.00 new install charge and the
  revengeful actions taken when questioned about it do not seem at all fair or
  ethical.
  As
  stated the 250.00 gift certificate that was issued after knowing full well it
  was of no value to me is not proper restitution for this complaint and I
  request for further action to be taken.
  
  
  
  Sincerely,
  
  
  
  ******* ****

  Business Response

  Date: 12/06/2023

  The re-install of equipment is not included in the rental agreement.  Only repair and maintenance of equipment is included on rental equipment, the rental agreement states"   We are not responsible for damage caused by accident, fire, flood, freezing, act of God, misuse, misapplication, neglect, alteration, installation or operation contrary to our instruction.

  We offered *** **** a $250.00 gift certificate off the purchase of a new Culligan piece of equipment.  We had no idea that he was leaving our service area.